Coleus
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| Water: | ◍ | ?"?" is not in the list (wet, moist, moderate, dry, less when dormant) of allowed values for the "Water" property. |
Read about Coleus in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture
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Coleus (Greek for sheath, referring to the monadelphous stamens). Labitae. Common window-garden and greenhouse showy-leaved herbs, and a few less known species grown for the handsome flowers. Herbs or small shrubs, annual or perennial, upright: lvs. opposite, dentate or serrate, petioled or sessile: st. 4-angled: fls. mostly blue or lilac, in terminal spike like racemes, small and middle sized and usually bluish, the 5 toothed calyx deflexed in fr.; corolla bilabiate, the lower lobes longer and concave, and inclosing the essential organs; stamens 4, didynamous and declinate, the filaments united into a tube, the anther cells confluent; ovary 4- parted. subtended by a gland-like disk, the style 2-lobed.—Probably 150 species, in the tropics of the eastern hemisphere, being especially abundant in Air., E. India and adjacent isls. Some species produce tubers that are eaten in the same way as potatoes. The common coleuses are of the most easy culture. They root readily from short cuttings, cut either to a joint or in the middle of an internode (Fig. 1027). Few conservatory plants are more ready to root than this. They may be rooted at any time of the year when new wood is to be secured. Formerly coleuses were much used for bedding, but the introduction of better plants for this purpose has lessened their popularity. They require a long season; they are likely to burn in the hot summers of the interior country; they have a weedy habit. However, they withstand shearing and therefore are useful for carpet- bedding. The leading variety for this purpose is still the old Golden Bedder, whose golden yellow foliage is used as filling for fancy designs.—Coleus plants make excellent specimens for the window-garden and conservatory. Best results are secured when new plants are started from cuttings each spring. They also grow readily from seeds, many interesting leaf-forms and colors arising. The old plants become leggy, lose their leaves, and lack brightness of color. They are very subject to mealy-bug. They are also liable to root-gall (the work of a nematode worm), as shown in Fig. 1028. When plants are thus affected, take cuttings and burn the old plants, and either bake or freeze the earth in which they grew.
The above text is from the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture. It may be out of date, but still contains valuable and interesting information which can be incorporated into the remainder of the article. Click on "Collapse" in the header to hide this text. |
Read about Coleus in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture
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Solenostemon (Greek, tube and thread, referring to the fact that the filaments are grown together, at their base, into a tube). Labiatae. Erect herbs allied to Coleus, probably similarly used: lvs. ovate, crenate, long-petioled: whorls of fls. laxly 6- to many-fld., arranged in long racemes or panicles: fls. small; calyx ovoid-campanulate, upper tooth ovate with decurrent edges, lateral small, lower oblong, as long as the upper; corolla-tube exserted, slender, dilated and oblique at the throat, the limb 2-lipped, upper shorter, lower long, oblong, slightly concave; stamens 4, the filaments united at their base into a tube; disk glandular: nutlets ovoid, smooth.—Eight species, W. Trop. Afr.; one also occurs in Brazil.
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References
- Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture, by L. H. Bailey, MacMillan Co., 1963
External links
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