Started out as a approximately two year seedling,
10 centimetres in diameter.
13 Years later, and it reach 50 centimetres, and I try to
restrain it.
This is a rather fast growing
caudiciform. Seven years later;
25 centimetres.
Nine years, 30 centimetres in
diameter and 26 branches, some with clusters of mixed flowers. I
wonder how it would have looked, if I didn't cut it back
to base every
winter? Or if I had provided it with a pot, more than half the size of
the caudex?
After 12 years, and it reach
50 centimetres in diameter
I made a cutting, rooted it
by aeroponics, and it worked.
One year old cutting. Rather
thick stem. It more than doubles the diameter the following year.
This two year old cutting got
heaps of mainly male flowers, sitting in 4-7 centimetres long inflorescences.
Later, the male flowers developed.
At the base of the long male
inflorescences, the unisexual flowers can be found.
Seen quite a few like this,
not really sure what it is.
This time, I actually got
seeds in the fruits.
A young seedling from own
stock.
|
| Author: |
Heinrich Gustav Adolf Engler,
1893 |
| Family: |
ICACINACEAE |
| Origin: |
Ethiopia,
Kenya, Somalia, Tanzania |
| Soil: |
Mix
- Rich |
| Water:
|
Medium
- Maximum |
| Sun: |
Maximum |
| Thickness: |
1,5
Meter |
| Height: |
15
Meters |
| Flower:
|
Small!
Green |
| Propagate: |
Seeds/Cuttings |
| Names:
|
Monkey
Chair. |
| Synonyms: |
Trematosperma
cordatum, Urban, 1883.
Pyrenacantha globosa, Engl.
Pyrenacantha ruspolii, Engl. |
This member of the Icacinaceae family was given this name by Heinrich Gustav Adolf Engler
in 1893. It is
found in Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania, growing in fine grit on hill-sides with
little water and
lots of sun. Never the less, it thrive with quite a lot of water and a
rather rich soil. The caudex can grow to one and a half meter in diameter! The
vines can grow to
15 meters. My plant add significantly to the caudex, but only in the late summer and autumn.
Although I keep it dark and dry, it starts growing around first of
March. Where my plant break
dormant mid winter, when it is stored at 22C, it remains dormant at
12-15C.The genera
name from Greek pyren; 'a stone fruit' and Greek akanthos; 'thorn'
for the peglike protuberances from the inner surface of the fruit
penetrating the cotyledons. The species name means 'mallow-leaved'.
The flowers are unisexual
(plants di- or monoecious) or bisexual. Bisexual flowers are usual found
at the base of male flowers, the female in tiny clusters along the stems. With both sexes, the plant can self
fertilize. I got seeds on a two year old cutting, which do form a
perfect caudex.
The young plants form sterile fruits.
After it reached 40 centimetres in
diameter, I try to stop the growth by growing it in a tiny pot, only
containing less than quarter the amount of soil, compared to the caudex.
That did little to stop the expansion. It still add ten centimetres to
the diameter each year...
|
Wild plant in Ethiopia by Otto
Schmidt. This is about how big it can grow - in the wild.
At first, extreme small female
flowers occurs on the stems, at the base of leafstalks.
They only produce sterile fruits,
when no male flowers are present.
In 2012, some new type of buds
emerged:
They were sitting in clusters, but
still only female flowers, which are only 0,6 millimetres across.
Male flowers on long
inflorescences.
Those are just as tiny, but sits on
long inflorescence, up to seven centimetres long.
These are bisexual flowers near the stem, at the base of male
inflorescences.
The fruits are sitting in clusters
near the stem.
Within the yellow fruits, the seeds
are found, one in each fruit.
The leaf glance produces a
sugary sap. |
|
