Flowers "friendly family" (or aspidistra) - beautiful and unpretentious plants that will become a real decoration of the house. Used for growing at home, decorating flower arrangements or as a medicinal plant.
Flower feature
Enough original and unusual decoration of the house can be a flower "friendly family". A photo of the plant allows you to appreciate all its beauty. It can be a real find for gardeners who do not like to devote much time to caring for green spaces.
Flowers "friendly family" are a grassy, stemless plant, consisting of many leaves. Aspidistra blooms in small dense flowers resembling bells, pink or purple. Since they are small, finding them can be quite difficult.
This flower is unpretentious to growing conditions, lighting, watering and temperature. Ideal for shaded rooms, as well as offices with artificial lighting.
Plant species
Flowers "friendly family" have only 8 species, however, only one of them is grown in room conditions - a high aspidistra. It has large dark green leaves gathered together, which looks like a waterfall. However, in flower shops you can find such types as:
- Aspidistra Variegata.
- Aspidistra Blume.
- Aspidistra the Milky Way.
- Aspidistra Amanogawa.
The variegate aspidistra is characterized by the fact that the surface of the sheet is densely covered with wide white stripes. Aspidistra Blume has smaller, dark green foliage and yellow or raspberry flowers. Apsidistra Milky Way looks quite unusual, since the entire surface of its leaves is densely covered with white spots. The Amanogawa aspidistra is characterized in that there are white dots in the center of its leaf and wide yellow stripes at the edges.
Medicinal properties
Aspidistra has a number of unique healing qualities and is used in folk medicine. Flowers "friendly family" are used as decoctions for convulsions, indigestion, kidney stones, muscle pain. They also help to cope with diseases of the stomach and intestines.
Caring for an Aspidistra
Beautiful and unpretentious is the flower "friendly family". Caring for it is very simple, since this plant is completely undemanding and can easily tolerate a lack of water, poor lighting, temperature changes, drafts. However, despite all the unpretentiousness of the plant, it is desirable for him to provide fairly good care. In this case, indoor flowers "friendly family" will have a beautiful decorative look and delight with their flowering.
The recommended temperature in summer should be 20-25 degrees. Also during this period it is advisable to take the plant to fresh air. In winter, it is recommended to keep it in a fairly cool room at a temperature of about 10 degrees. It is forbidden to expose the flower in direct sunlight, as spots appear on the leaves - burns.
It is necessary to water the plant as the soil dries, but care should be taken so that excess water immediately drains. For irrigation, it is necessary to use purified water without lime and chlorine.
The plant should be sprayed regularly from the spray using clean water. You also need to regularly wipe the leaves with a soft cloth from dust. If there is a lack of moisture, then the tips of the leaves will turn brown and begin to dry out. Twice a year, it is recommended to feed the plant using a mineral complex.
At home, the reproduction of aspidistra is carried out by dividing the rhizome. This procedure is carried out in March. For this, the plant is freed from the ground and a small part with several leaves and rhizome is separated from it. To prevent decay, the place of cut is sprinkled with chopped charcoal. The shoot is planted in the soil in a small pot.
The flower does not tolerate the transplant and grows after this rather slowly, which is why it is necessary to transplant it only as needed. A thick layer of drainage is poured at the bottom of the tank, and then a plant is planted along with an earthen lump. The upper basal part should remain on the surface of the earth.
A beautiful and unusual flower will not cause much trouble, but it will look just fine.