The stunning dragon spits beads

Dragon spitting bead: shrub of the family Verbenaceae, having young branches quadrangular, yellowish brown tomentose, glabrous when old. Leaf blade papery, narrowly ovate or ovate-oblong, apex acuminate, base subrounded, entire; Cymes axillary or pseudoterminal, dichotomously branched; bracts narrowly lanceolate; calyx white, basally connate, middle dilated, lobes triangular-ovate, apex acuminate; Corolla dark red, outside covered with fine glandular hairs, lobes elliptic; stamens 4, protruding beyond Corolla with style; stigma 2-lobed. Drupe subglobose, exocarp shiny, brownish black; persistent calyx not enlarged, red-purple. The florescence is from March to May. Longtuzhu prefers a warm, moist and sunny semi-shady environment and is not resistant to cold. Distributed in tropical western Africa, Mexico, cultivated in China.

Dragon spits beads

History of Botany:

In the middle of the 18th century, Coase Thomson, a British traveler, went on a trip to Africa and accidentally saw many dark-skinned girls strung into neck chains with dragon beads, decorated with a black and white chest, with a strong contrast, which aroused great interest, so he collected the seedlings and brought them back for trial planting. At that time, botanists thought he was the first discoverer, so they named him after him. By the end of the 19th century, Mali began to operate this kind of flower and changed its name to "Pearl Pagoda", which was better than employing people. At the beginning of the 20th century, Longtuzhu entered the international flower market in the Netherlands, and the initial sales were very small. Fang Fulin, an overseas Chinese worker, suggested that the flower name of "Longtuzhu" be used to attract customers in view of the fact that florists love auspiciousness, which was immediately adopted by the boss. As a result, business is booming and is sold almost all over the world. Since then, the name of dragon spitting beads has become popular all over the world.

Dragon spits beads

Mode of reproduction:

Cuttage

Cuttings are generally carried out from May to June every year, and the top shoots of strong and disease-free branches can be selected, or the lower old branches can be cut into stem segments of 8-10 cm as cuttings. Budding is to take the lateral buds on the branches, with part of the xylem, as cuttings. Root cuttings are rhizomatous stolons cut into 8-10 cm long for cuttings. The cutting bed can be made of peat, perlite, rotten leaf soil, river sand and vermiculite, and the cutting in spring and autumn is the best. The optimum cutting temperature is 21 ℃ and the bed temperature is 26 ℃, which is very beneficial to rooting. It can take root 3 weeks after insertion. If 0.5% Mel 0.8% indolebutyric acid solution is used to treat the base of cuttings for 1-2 seconds, rooting can be faster and more.

Sowing seeds

The seed has a short life span and is sown immediately after harvest. The seeds can be sowed in a shallow pot from March to April each year, and the temperature is kept at 24 °C. the seedlings can emerge in 10 days, change pots and transplant when the seedlings are 10 cm high, and blossom in the second year. Sowing method is not easy to survive, so it is recommended to use cutting method to propagate.

Dragon spits beads

Watch:

This species is a beautiful ornamental plant with a crimson Corolla protruding from the white calyx when it blossoms. The flowers are peculiar in shape and bloom luxuriantly, and the flowers are all prismatic calyx composed of bracts, like milky white "carambola". Between the cracks at its tip, they spit out five crimson flowers, which are distributed densely and symmetrically on the leaves, just like spitting one after another the red beads containing the fire of life. Generally, potted plants grow very short due to the restriction of pruning. Mainly used for greenhouse cultivation and ornamental, can be used as flower racks, but also as potted plants to decorate windowsills and small courtyards in summer, and for parks or tourist bases to make flower baskets, arches, pavilions and various patterns, to add elegance to tourists.