Talinum CUNEIFOLIUM

Talinum CUNEIFOLIUM - Wedge-leaved fameflower, Talinum cuneifolium, Talinum PORTULACIFOLIUM.

Can be grown in bonsai style!

Talinum is a genus of dicotyledonous flowering plants included in the family Talinaceae. There are about 50 species of succulents in the genus. It was formerly included in the family Portulacaceae. The scientific name of the genus was first used by Michel Adanson in 1763. It is probably derived from an African vernacular name for one of the species of the genus. Most species of Talinum are distributed in tropical and subtropical zones of Africa and Central America. Some are naturalized in Asia and North America.

Talinums are annual, biennial, woody-based, or perennial herbaceous plants and small subshrubs, sometimes succulent. The roots are fleshy, tuberous, or cone-shaped. Leaves in rosettes are deciduous or semi-deciduous, smooth, paired, succulent. The leaves are linear or obovate in shape, with an entire margin, on short petioles, spirally arranged on the stem. Flowers are gathered in lateral or terminal paniculate, racemose, or corymbose inflorescences. Flowers from creamy to deep pink usually open in sunny weather and only during the day. The calyx is divided into 2 lobes and usually drops early. The corolla usually consists of five separate or slightly fused at the base petals. Stamens number 5-35. Ovary with 8-10 locules. The fruit is a spherical capsule with 3-5 valves, containing numerous black almost rounded seeds.

Wedge-leaved fameflower is a caudiciform plant from South Africa. It forms a yellowish-brown trunk and succulent branches. The leaflets are small and elongated. The plant is very undemanding.

Before planting, seeds are soaked in warm water with the addition of stimulants for 24 hours, treated with fungicide, then sown in a well-drained substrate. They are moistened from a spray bottle, covered with film, and germinated in the light at a temperature of 23-26 °C (73-79 °F). Sprouts need ventilation. Overwatering and complete drying out of the sowings must be avoided. Seeds begin to germinate in 10-15 days, and sprouts appear in approximately 20-30 days.

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Talinums are very simple in culture - they bloom easily and set seeds. Plants should be provided with regular watering. A short drought, in turn, will do no harm. For winter, plants must be brought indoors after being repotted into a pot. The crop is rarely affected by pests and diseases; in some years it is bothered by slugs. It is very important to monitor soil condition; one should not get carried away with watering. Soil is preferable sandy, well-drained in a sunny spot. Acidity is within 6.1-6.5 pH.

The flowers are rather small, pink, white, and yellow. Flowers can be arranged singly in leaf axils or gathered in terminal panicle inflorescences. After flowering, spherical fruits form. Seeds ripen in about a month. They can be collected and planted in spring in a garden or cold frame. Over the summer, it is possible to obtain very interesting specimens with decent caudices. In autumn, tubers are dug up, excess stems are trimmed, and plants are potted into containers. This method allows significantly accelerating the growth of Talinums. If sown at home in small containers, the caudex will grow slowly. Propagated by seeds. When sown in early March, it blooms early, even before planting into open ground. Under favorable conditions, self-seeding is possible. Rosettes that did not have time to bloom in the year of sowing sometimes overwinter in regions south of USDA Zone 5. They are planted out into open ground in early June.

They are planted separately at the foot of a rock garden or on a scree; they can also be planted en masse in the foreground of a flowerbed. It looks spectacular when planted in long containers placed on stands or on walls, where the plant leans downward forming an airy cloud of flowers.