2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Kufeya (lat. Cuphea) - an evergreen tropical plant from the Derbennikovye family.
Description
Kufeya is an evergreen small shrub covered with a huge number of elongated flowers that look like smoldering cigarettes. This is the reason for the fact that the people call it "cigarette holder" or "cigarette tree". As a rule, the height of the bushes does not exceed half a meter, they all branch quite strongly and are endowed with upright dense shoots. And they can be not only annuals, but also perennials.
Lanceolate small leaves of kufei are painted in rich green tones and are located on very short petioles. And the narrow tubular flowers are very similar in appearance to cigarettes with smoldering ends. This shape is due to the fact that at home these amazing flowers are pollinated by cute hummingbirds, endowed with rather long and slightly curved beaks.
Where grows
The homeland of kufei is the South American tropics and subtropics, and now it is grown in a huge number of different countries.
Varieties
The kufeya is fiery red. An incredibly attractive and brightest variety, which is a branching shrub reaching forty centimeters in height with slightly curved or straight shoots. The opposite dark green leaves are oblong and grow up to six centimeters long and up to two centimeters wide. The fiery red flowers are tubular and equipped with small dark purple limbs at the tips.
Issopolitan kufea. The height of this well-branching lush shrub rarely exceeds half a meter. Each bush is abundantly dotted with a huge number of short-peaked dark green leaves. In length, they can reach two and a half centimeters, and their width is only 0.4 cm. And this variety blooms with small tubular flowers, the color of which can be pale lilac, pink or white.
The kufeya is pale. A very graceful and fairly compact annual shrub, capable of boasting surprisingly lush and dark foliage and an abundance of wine-red flowers.
Lanceolate kufea. This fast-growing annual shrub reaches a height of ninety centimeters, and its purple stems are slightly pubescent. Collected in inflorescences dark purple flowers have a tubular shape and reach up to three centimeters in length.
Growing and caring
Kufeya feels great in indoor conditions, the main thing is to place it in bright rooms. In this case, the western and eastern windows will be ideal. Kufeya is very partial to sunlight - the larger its volumes, the more buds will be tied on a beautiful plant. Neither in the shade, nor in poorly lit rooms, the kufei will not bloom, and its leaves will gradually lose their former rich color. And, nevertheless, it must be protected from the scorching rays of the sun (which is why it is not recommended to place this plant on the southern windows), if they still reach the beautiful kufei, you should take care of proper shading. And the plant should be protected from drafts.
Kufa grows at a fairly good rate, and its reproduction occurs with the help of cuttings or seeds - seeds germinate quickly, and they take root perfectly. In the spring and summer, it is important to try to maintain the temperature for the kufei in the range of twenty-two to twenty-five degrees, and in the winter - from twelve to eighteen degrees. If the thermometer drops below, she may die.
As for leaving, in this regard, kufeya is completely undemanding. The main thing is to provide it with sufficient watering, especially for flowering plants. Watering kufeya should be two to three times a week, while the water should be at room temperature.
Recommended:
Kufeya Fiery Red
Fiery red kufeya (Latin Cuphea ignea) - a bright representative of the Kufeya genus of the Derbennikov family. For the external features of the flowers, the plant is often called a cigarette tree. In nature, the species in question is found in Mexico and on the island of Jamaica, in Russia and European countries it is grown exclusively as a houseplant, because winter-hardy properties are not inherent in it.
