Delonix, the royal, fiery tree, is a genus uniting several flowering representatives of the legume family. In Russia, grown at home. Heat-loving culture does not tolerate even short-term minor frosts.
Botanical Description
Delonix is a tree of medium height. Adult specimens reach 10–12 m. The diameter of the trunks in the lower part is up to 50–70 cm. The root system is developed, penetrates to a depth of 2-3 m. The genus does not belong to wind turbines. The bark is dark, gray-brown, smooth at a young age, then covered with cracks. Lateral shoots densely branched. The crown is sprawling, umbrella-shaped.
Leaves are dark green, double-paired. The length of complex plates is up to 50 cm. On the central petioles, 7–9 pairs of branches are opposite, having, in turn, 10–15 pairs of small oval-elongated lobes. At night, the plates are folded in half along the cuttings, straightened in the morning. Delonix is a deciduous plant, but the greens do not fall seasonally, but only in long dry periods. In regions with year-round rainfall, crowns remain green constantly.
The flowers of the fire tree are bisexual, large, bright red or yellow, collected in dense axillary inflorescences. Corollas up to 12 cm, with five multidirectional elongated petals. The upper petal is larger than the others, in the form of a wide tongue, usually variegated. Its light pink surface is mottled with burgundy specks. Stamens elongated, velvety, 8-10 pieces on one flower. Pestles are light yellow, short. For the first time, plants begin to bloom at the age of 3-4 years, reach full maturity by 10 years.
Fruits - large pods, ripen in September or October. The length is more than half a meter, the width is 5–6 cm. The leaves of green beans are light brown; as they ripen, they become dark purple or brown, and turn green. The beans are dark, smooth, measuring 2–2.5 cm.
Delonix is growing fast. In the tropics stretches up to 2 m per year. Insensitive to insufficient soil nutrient, prolonged droughts.
Spread
Delonix was first discovered in the early 19th century in Madagascar.. This was done by the Austrian biologist Wenceslas Boer, who arrived on the island with a scientific expedition. Trees were actively cut down at home: they spread and regenerated quickly, and powerful roots and thick spreading crowns did not allow other species to develop.
Gradually, the fire tree disappeared from the wild.. But it began to be used as an ornamental plant. Several species are grown in Northern Australia, southern Brazil, Hong Kong, the Caribbean, Canary Islands, Thailand, and other regions with suitable climatic conditions.
Varieties
In total, there are more than 20 types of delonix. In culture, 2 of them are common:
- Delonix dwarf (lat. Delonix pumila). Low spreading tree. It extends to 2–2.5 m. The crowns are umbellate, dense. The leaves are carved, pinnate, with many small wide-oval plates. Inflorescences are large, cream-colored or bright orange.
- Delonix Royal (lat. Delonix regia) It was this species that got the name "fire tree". Trunks up to 12-14 m high, the crowns of adult plants are hemispherical. Inflorescences are large. In the evening hours, due to imperceptible folded leaves, flowering trees seem to be engulfed in flames.
In regions where the climate allows you to grow trees in the open ground, they are planted along roadsides, sidewalks, in parks, gardens. Wide dense crowns cast a dense shadow, under them arrange recreation areas.
Growing
Delonix is demanding on the level of lighting. It is recommended to place it near the south or southwest windows. In cloudy weather or in winter, you need to use fluorescent lamps. Crowns of a 2-3-year-old tree are spread over 1–1.5 m - you should take care of enough space.
Delonix can be grown from seeds:
- Before planting, the material is scarified, otherwise a dense shell will not allow sprouts to break through. The skin is gently filed or pierced with a pin. You can pour the beans with hot water, leave to swell for a day. It is advisable to add a little growth stimulator.
- For germination use small pots with a mixture of equal parts of sand, turf land and peat. Beans need a lot of oxygen - they should not be buried, just cover with a layer of soil 2-3 mm thick.
- The surface of the pots is tightened with a film, kept under round-the-clock lighting. Plants can be placed under the LED lamp.
- Daily soil surface is sprayed with water from a spray bottle. The room is maintained at a temperature of about 27–28 ° C.
After germination, the film is removed. After 3-4 months, the plants are transplanted into more spacious containers. The soil is preferably loose and neutral. The maximum pH is 6.5. A mixture of peat, garden soil, river sand is suitable. You can add ⅛ volume of fine pebbles. Before planting, the plant is provided with drainage from stones or polystyrene foam fragments; it is laid with a thick layer on the bottom of the pot.
Care
A plant needs air humidity of 50–70%. In a dry atmosphere, it is advisable to place open containers of water near the container. It is not recommended to put a crop near heating radiators: it can discard foliage.
In spring and summer, in sunny weather, at a temperature not lower than 17 ° C, a container with a tree can be taken outside. The optimum heat level for active Delonix vegetation is 27–30 ° C. He is not afraid of extreme heat. In late autumn and winter, the tree should be at rest, gradually lowering the temperature to 10–12 ° C. In winter, it is required to reduce the frequency of watering to two times a month. Stagnation of moisture in the cold season can cause root decay.
Home plant blooms longer than in nature. Buds are kept on branches from May to September. For spring and summer, growth can be up to half a meter. To form a thick branching crown, the stems must be nipped regularly. This is usually done in April. If, instead of several branches, a single shoot continues to grow in the nipping zone, it is bent down and fixed with a wire. This will allow branches to grow from lower growth points. More often delonixes form like a bonsai with an umbrella crown. Excessively growing roots can be pruned regularly. Delonix tolerates any kind of haircut.
Pets should be kept away from the tree. The juice of its leaves is toxic, causing severe intoxication in cats and dogs. Young children should also not touch and pinch greens and flowers.
Watering, transplanting and top dressing
Watering is necessary frequent, but moderate. Overdrying the roots, waterlogging of the soil leads to the death of the plant. To adjust the water content in the soil, the surface of the pot can be covered with wet moss. When watering the crop, it is necessary to ensure that the drops do not fall on the blossoming flowers.
The plant is transplanted annually until the tree is 4 years old. Regular updating of the topsoil is sufficient for adults.
Top dressing is applied during the growing season. Nitrous and potassium-phosphorus compounds alternate every 2 weeks. When updating the soil or transplanting the crop, humus can be added to the soil. Its nutritional value is enough for almost 2 months. Fertilizers at this time can not be applied.
Breeding
Ripe seeds from home culture are rarely obtained. Propagated by cuttings. It is recommended to use apical shoots that do not have time to completely lignify. They are harvested in early June. Before being placed in the nutrient mixture, the material is lowered for 12 hours by cut into a glass with a solution of a growth stimulant.
For rooting, the plant is deepened in moist vermiculite.. You can use a mixture of coarse sand and peat, pouring it into a spacious transparent bag. Every day, add a little water to it, ventilate. Contain cuttings at a temperature not lower than 27 ° C with round-the-clock lighting. After sunset, LED lamps are required.
Diseases and parasites
Under the conditions of detention, you can not be afraid that the fire tree will fall ill. Drying or falling leaves may indicate a lack of moisture or light. The problem can be fixed by adjusting the mode.
Of the parasites Delonix dangerous scale insects and spider mites. Infection can occur due to the use of poor-quality soil or the location of a tree next to succulents: cacti, aloe. If insects are found, they can be collected manually, spray the crowns with garlic infusion. If this does not help, it is recommended to use insecticides.