Aichryson are mostly native to the Canary Islands, with a few species in the Azores, Madeira and Morocco, and one in Portugal. They usually share their habitat with either Aeonium or Greenovia species, yet in general they prefer more sheltered and humid places, as they either grow as fragile weeds or low subshrubs.
Aichryson, a contraction of the Greek "aei" (always) and "chrysos" (gold), is a genus of the Crassulaceae family. This genus was described by Philip Barker-Webb & Sabin Berthelot in 1840.
IDENTIFY AIRCHRYSON PLANT
Aichryson are mostly native to the Canary Islands, with a few species in the Azores, Madeira and Morocco, and one in Portugal. They usually share their habitat with either Aeonium or Greenovia species, yet in general they prefer more sheltered and humid places, as they either grow as fragile weeds or low subshrubs.
They are succulent, perennial, subtropical plants with occasionally slightly woody stems with generally dichotomous branching. The leaves are alternate, whole or with the margin slightly creased, petiolate or sometimes sessile, deciduous, glabrous or hairy.
These plants bloom from the inflorescence which are dichotome in the uppermost part, usually terminal, lax or more or less dense. The flowers are from hexameras to daisies. The sepals are fused to about half their length, greenish and slightly fleshy. The petals are free, linear-lanceolate, yellow in color. The stamens are in double number of the petals. The carpels are partially enclosed in the receptacle, equal in number to the petals and sepals. The fruit forms a polyphyletic. The seeds are subcylindrical to fusiform, of graying color.
Some common species and varieties: Aichryson sedifolium (thick succulent shrubs with claviform, sticky, fleshy, medium green, yellowish green, with red lines leaves in rosettes and have golden yellow flowers); Aichryson laxum (small succulent shrub with rhomboid, medium-green, hairy, short white hairs leaves and have golden yellow flowers); Aichryson tortuosum (small succulent shrub with rhomboid, fleshy, medium-green, pubescent, short white hairs leaves gathered in rosettes); Aichryson punctatum (small succulent plant with greenish-brown, pubescent, transparent white hairs shoots and the leaves are rhomboid, medium green in color, slightly pubescent, the edge of the leaf is crenate, the leaf petiole is long, gathered into a rosette and have yellow flowers).
AIRCHRYSON PLANT CARE AND CULTURE
Cultural information should only be used as a guide, and should be to be adapted to suit you. Your physical location; where you grow your plants, how much time you have to devote to their care, and many other factors, will need to be taken into account. Only then can you decide on the cultural methods that best suit you and your plants.
Light:
Aichryson can be grown on a window sill. These ornamental dwarf plants prefers bright diffused light. It is best to grow the plant on the windows with eastern or western exposure. Southern windows will require some shade. In winter they require a rather sunny spot inside.
Temperature:
In spring and summer, the temperature of 20-25 ℃ is preferable. In autumn and winter, it is necessary to keep airflow at a temperature of 8-10 ℃, when kept in a room with a higher temperature (15-22 ℃), the shoots are drawn out, the leaves begin to fall. The plants should not be placed near heating appliances.
Substrate and growing media:
Aichryson is best growing in clay pots. Their root system is shallow, so the pots should be low. The plant is undemanding to the soil. It is suitable substrate of turf land and sand, or a mixture of turf, leaf, humus soil and sand (4: 1: 1: 1). It is useful to add brick chips and pieces of coal to the soil. At the bottom of the pot provide good drainage.
In spring, when the pot is filled with roots, transplant is needed. After transplanting, watering must be done after 4-5 days, depending on the size of the pot. The first watering should be very careful - little by little, so as not to cause rotting of the roots.
Watering:
These plants are watered over the spring and summer period regularly, allowing the substrate in the pot to dry to half the height of the pot. In winter, it is rarely watered so that the leaves do not wither and wrinkle. Abundant watering after full drying of the substrate is curtailed by the rotting of the roots and the base of the shoots, so the plant is watered in small portions.
Aichryson tolerate dry indoor air. From time to time it is recommended to wash the plants under a warm shower. In the autumn-winter months, this procedure is contraindicated.
Fertilizer:
In the spring and summer, Aichryson is fertilized once every two weeks with complex fertilizer for succulent plants with a low nitrogen content.
Pruning:
They can be grown as a bush, or as a standard tree. For the formation of a beautiful crown, during the growing season pinch the tops of young shoots, you can also cut the weak. If they become too large, plants can be cut back. Cuttings will easily root within few days.
These plants blooms in the spring, in the second or third year, on the condition of a tight pot, rare watering, and a cool and bright wintering. Flowering lasts more than six months. During flowering, up to 60-80 % of the leaves fall off; after the end of flowering, it is necessary to cut flower stalks and increase watering. Over time, the plant will acquire new shoots; if the plant has flown heavily, then a small pruning of the shoots can be made.
Propagation:
Aichryson is propagated by seeds and cuttings. Seeds are sown in plates. The composition of the land: sheet - 1 hour, Sand - 0.5 hours. Care of sowing before germination is reduced to spraying the crops and daily airing the dishes covered with glass on top. Seed germination is observed after 2 weeks. Seedlings dive into plates, into boxes at a distance of 1x1 cm. Composition of the earth: light turf - 0.5 hours, leaf - 1 hour, sand - 0.5 hours. The pick is set close to light. For the growth of seedlings planted in 5-7 cm pots one by one. The composition of the land: light turf - 1h., Leaf - 1h., Sand - 1h. Pots with plants contain at a temperature of 16-18 ℃, watered once a day.
When propagating by cuttings and leaves, before planting for rooting, they are preliminarily hardened in a dark and dry place for several hours. Then suitable containers are planted, it is possible to root in wet sand, vermiculite, or a mixture of substrate for succulent plants and sand. Rooting of cuttings in water with the addition of coal to it is permissible. Rooted cuttings and leaves are planted in 5-7 cm pots. The composition of the land is the same as for seedlings.
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