2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
A fast-growing climbing liana is an excellent wall decorator, moreover, it is not afraid of shaded cool walls, if the temperature does not drop below plus 5 degrees. The dark purple flowers exude a pleasant aroma similar to that of chocolate
Genus Akebia
Few of the genus
Akebia (Akebia), numbering only five species of climbing lianas, which are native to the territory from the Himalayas to Japan.
They treat liana differently in different countries. In Japan, for example, creeper leaves are added to a herbal tea mixture, and the fruit is eaten as a vegetable. Household baskets are woven from the vine.
In New Zealand, Akebia is treated as a malicious weed that can quickly displace other plants from the territory.
Shrub vines can be evergreen, or partially lose oval foliage during the cold season. Small clusters of inflorescences are collected from dark purple flowers and are partly hidden in the abundant foliage. A pleasant aroma, similar to the light scent of chocolate, emanates from the creeper during flowering.
The flowers are replaced by dark gray-purple fruits-berries with numerous seeds inside. They seem sweet to some, tasteless to others. However, as already mentioned, they are eaten in Japan. In the conditions of a cool short summer, the fruits do not have time to ripen.
Varieties
* Akebia three-leafed (Akebia trifoliata) - trifoliate leaves of a liana growing up to 25 meters, decorated with blue lavender fruits in autumn. Flowers blooming in spring are blackish-red in color.
* Akebia five-leafed (Akebia quinata) - or
Chocolate vine, can be evergreen, or partially lose leaves at unfavorable temperatures and humidity. The leaves consist of 5 oval-oblong leaflets. At the end of spring, dark chocolate flowers bloom, collected in clusters-inflorescences, exuding a vanilla aroma.
Rural Japanese children in the old days loved to feast on the sweetish fruits of Akebia, and the peel of the fruit with a bitter taste is used as a vegetable that is stuffed with minced meat and fried in boiling oil. A decoction is prepared from the stem of the vine, which is used as a diuretic.
In New Zealand, Akebia five-leafed is banned, being considered
evil weed
Growing
For those who are not afraid that the vine will displace all other plants from the territory of the dacha, you need to know that, although Akebia is a lover of the bright sun, it grows beautifully against the shaded cool walls, draping their surface with its green leaves and fragrant inflorescences.
The vine prefers fertile, moist, well-drained soils. If the summer is short, you can plant the plant in pots, taking them out into the open air in a warm season. The pots are filled with soil made up of a mixture of leafy fertile soil, peat and sand, adding complete mineral fertilizer during planting.
Watering is needed for young plants during a prolonged drought. In the spring-summer period, once a month, mineral fertilizer is added to the water for irrigation.
After flowering, the vine is cut off. To maintain the appearance, dry and damaged branches are removed.
Reproduction
Akebia is very prolific for cuttings that take root at the base of the plant and grow rapidly. No wonder New Zealand is afraid of this plant in order to preserve homegrown and familiar crops.
At the end of winter, Akebia can be propagated by dividing the bush. But this type is used less often.
More often they use spring semi-lignified cuttings, which for rooting are determined in a container filled with a wet mixture of peat and sand. After the formation of roots, they are seated in personal pots and determined until next spring (or autumn, to be planted in open ground) in a cool room.
Enemies
Enemy number 1 is excess moisture with poor drainage.
Enemy number 2 is severe frosts that kill delicate shoots.
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