Miscanthus

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

Miscanthus (Latin Miscanthus) - a genus of herbaceous perennial plants, celebrating life, ranked in the family Cereals (Latin Poaceae). Plants form a hummock, from which linear leaves and spike-shaped loose inflorescences gush out, saluting life. Most often, these plants prefer to live in warm regions, but, with a caring attitude towards themselves, they delight gardeners living on lands with a temperate climate. Plants of the genus are the most popular garden decorators among all cereals used for the same purpose.

What's in your name

The Latin name of the genus "Miscanthus" is based on two ancient Greek words meaning, translated into understandable Russian, "petiole" and "flower". The genus owes this name to the method that nature came up with for attaching flower spikelets in the general composition of the plant.

You can also hear the common name of the plants of the genus - "Veernik". Although the appearance of plants is not so much like a fan, but rather like flashes of festive fireworks. But, at a time when botanists assigned the name to the genus, fireworks, most likely, had not yet been invented by people. Although, their inflorescences-panicles look like a fan. It is possible that they were responsible for the birth of such a name.

Description

Plants of the Miscanthus genus, of course, are far from the size of such herbaceous plants as Bamboo or Banana, however, their height is also admirable, ranging from eighty centimeters to two or three meters.

The guarantor of long-term plants is the creeping rhizome, which gives birth to large turf, picturesque and loose on the surface of the earth.

Strong stems are covered with hard leathery leaves, linear or lanceolate-linear, from five to eighteen millimeters wide.

Spineless or boneless flower spikelets form fan-shaped panicle inflorescences from ten to thirty centimeters long, located on long petioles.

Varieties

There are about forty plant species in the ranks of the Miscanthus genus. Let's dwell on a few of them:

* Miscanthus sugar-flowered (Latin Miscanthus sacchariflorus) is a rapidly growing tall (up to three meters high) species that adorned the surface of its rigid linear leaves with a white pattern with yellow stripes. For the white or silvery-pinkish color of its panicles, the plant received the corresponding specific epithet.

* Miscanthus giant (lat. Miscanthus Giganteus) - delights not only with its three-meter height, building up the first two meters already in the first year of its birth, but also with silky hairs that turn pink inflorescences into silvery ones. Some gardeners are confident in the healing abilities of the plant, ridding the soil around them of pesticides, herbicides and radioactive background.

* Miscanthus Chinese (Latin Miscanthus sinensis) - this species is in no hurry to stretch in height, reaching its maximum marks of one and a half to two meters after seven years on the planet. For the variety of colors shown by leaves and inflorescences, Miscanthus Chinese has won the hearts of gardeners, and therefore is a frequent visitor to their well-groomed territories. A lover of moisture feels great near reservoirs, where the soil is loose and nutritious, and the sun is available to the leaves of the plant. In Russian conditions, the plant should be covered for the winter by analogy with Rose bushes.

Usage

Species that are distinguished by a luxurious appearance are most popular among all plants of the Cereal family when you need to create a festive atmosphere on the site. After all, a huge loose "bush" is fraught with the charm of fireworks, lively and picturesque.

Naturally, such a large plant looks more spectacular when it has enough space to demonstrate its unique beauty and grace.