Plants that don't want soil are freer to grow.

Source | Environment and Future

Now there are more and more patterns of planting plants, and everyone wants to play with characteristics and grow styles. Bear's friend also strongly requests to write about the characteristic plants in her store. So this issue will recommend some epiphytes that can be planted without soil or only a small amount of soil.

First of all, we have to distinguish a concept, epiphytic plants are not parasitic plants, epiphytic plants can survive on their own photosynthesis, parasitic plant photosynthesis can not be enough nutrients for its system, need to absorb nutrients from other plants to survive, such as common dodder, mistletoe.

Mistletoe

Epiphytes can grow in the soil, or on rocks, walls or other plant surfaces. For example, bryophytes and nest ferns we wrote before are typical epiphytes. The epiphytes in seed plants are mainly concentrated in Orchidaceae and pineapple family (pineapple family). In this issue, we recommend some.

Epiphytes of Orchidaceae

Orchidaceae

There are many epiphytes of Orchidaceae. This issue recommends several common and easy to buy. If you want to dig your own friends, please know the distribution and living environment of the plants. Since this issue is not a series of illustrations, we will not dwell on these things.

Dendrobium Dendrobium

Wild Dendrobium

Dendrobium is not only a famous medicinal plant, but also a good flowering plant. The flower color of Dendrobium is very bright, and the flowering period is generally in late spring and early summer. Daxong's family has already sent out a flower bud, which is not yet in full bloom.

Potted Dendrobium

Dendrobium likes dark and humid environment and does not need too much light, so it is very suitable for indoor planting. The deficiency is that it needs to be watered and sprayed frequently. It can be planted in the soil or tied to a tree trunk. Interested friends can try to grow with bryophytes.

Dendrobium is characterized by pink and white flowers.

In addition, there are many kinds of Dendrobium, in addition to the above-mentioned Dendrobium, there are fringed Dendrobium and Dendrobium candidum.

Wild Dendrobium candidum

Yellow flower

Manually tied to a tree

Potted plant

The plants of Dendrobium candidum are larger and need to be planted in large pots.

Wild Dendrobium candidum

Big bear family is Dendrobium candidum, the color is not very color, light yellowish green, but the flower pattern is very characteristic, and Jian Lan "Morning Light" is somewhat similar.

In addition, there are many kinds of Dendrobium, due to limited space, can not be cited one by one, but also please understand. The feeding environment of Dendrobium can refer to bryophytes, because seed plants are not as fragile as moss, so they can give a certain amount of light. In winter in northern cities, they must be moved indoors to avoid freezing damage.

Pineapple (pineapple family)

Bromeliaceae

Common epiphytes

There may be friends who can't tell the difference between pineapple and pineapple, and here Big Bear wants to point out (in the past, there was a fierce struggle between friends and big bears, because some friends had no contact with taxonomy, and there were no concepts of families, genera, varieties, subspecies and cultivated varieties in their minds. So it's very hard to explain.

From a botanical point of view, pineapple = pineapple, pineapple and pineapple all refer to a class of plants, not a particular species. What is sold on the market, as well as the pineapple and pineapple we usually call, are all the same plant, but different cultivated varieties, which is equivalent to the difference between Red Fuji Apple and Marshal Huang Apple.

Far from it, the epiphytes of the pineapple family are mainly concentrated in the genus Cymbidium, such as the common air grass and the elderly beard, and so on.

The pineapple family is all introduced from abroad, and there is no native distribution in China, so there are no records in many materials.

Tillandsia of the genus Cymbidium (Pineapple)

Many plants of the genus Tielan do not have official Chinese names, only what people usually call them, such as air grass, aerial iron orchid, and so on, but the names are not important, people can know the plants, if you want to be serious, please use the Latin scientific name.

First of all, let's talk about pineapple (old man's beard).

Tillandsia usneoides

Note: if there is a misspelling of the scientific name on an encyclopedia website, please refer to the above scientific name.

In the real sense, the elderly must be plants that do not need soil at all, hang in one place, have light, and often spray water to survive. If they are in a humid valley environment, they can grow with little maintenance. Because of this characteristic, old people must be widely used in plant landscaping.

It can also grow normally indoors.

The elderly must be weak in cold tolerance and can only be planted in southern cities. Indoor planting is recommended in the Yangtze River basin and north. If you are outdoors, there is basically no need for management in spring and summer. If you want to blossom vigorously, you can add appropriate phosphate fertilizer to the water.

The indoor creativity is also very good.

Air grass

Air grass is just a general name, there are many kinds, the appearance is roughly similar, the following big bears come one by one.

Tillandsia stricta

This species is probably the most common air grass.

Tillandsia juncea

This plant can be seen in the first picture of the article.

Tillandsia magnusiana

This species is characterized by obvious white powder on the surface of the plant.

Tillandsia capitata

It is popular for its red leaves.

Azaleaceae

Ericaceae

Common epiphytes

Agapetes of tree radish

Finally, I would like to recommend a kind of tree radish, the flower pattern is very characteristic, has high ornamental. Tree radish is mainly distributed in the high altitude areas of southern China. At present, most of the common tree radish in horticulture are cultivated varieties or hybrids, and there are also some original species. This genus requires high light, so it is not recommended to plant it indoors.

Five-winged berry

Agapetes serpens

Wild five-winged berries

Five-winged berries in horticulture

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