Caesalpinia SPINOSA

Caesalpinia SPINOSA - Tara spinosa, Spiny holdback, Caesalpinia spinosa.

Caesalpinia belongs to the extensive Fabaceae (Legume) family, containing, according to various accounts, from 60 to 150 plant species. All distribution areas fall within the warm regions of both hemispheres of the planet, but the native range of origin of this plant is the lands of Argentina, Uruguay, Barbados island, and the southeastern regions of Asia and tropical America.

All representatives of the genus possess a shrubby or arborescent growth form; in rare cases, they take the form of lianas (that is, represented as climbing shrubs). When grown under indoor conditions, the height of the plant does not exceed 1.5 m (4.9 ft). Their shoots are often covered with thorns. Leaves with bipinnate and palmate-compound outlines develop on the branches, somewhat resembling the delicate foliage of acacia, but in this legume representative the structure is somewhat more complex. The leaflets are remarkably symmetrical, colored a bright light green. Curiously, with the arrival of evening hours, the plant's leaves begin to fold, which makes them considered even more ornamental.

During flowering, buds gathered in racemose inflorescences begin to open at the shoot tips. Still unopened buds look like small balls or wheels. The flowers are distinguished by large sizes and yellow, orange, cream, or red shades, but specimens with two-toned petal coloration are also found. The calyx has five lobes; the outlines of the lower one are concave and usually exceed the others in size. The corolla also has five petals; their dimensions are often equal, or the upper one is smaller than all the rest. Inside the corolla, five pairs of free stamens grow; the ovary is sessile. It is the stamens that lend the flower an exotic look, as they hang freely from the corolla, resembling whiskers. Under natural conditions, fragrant and bright flowers attract various insects (bees), butterflies, and even hummingbirds for pollination.

After pollination of the flowers, a legume fruit with a leathery surface ripens, which may be swollen or flat; upon ripening, it either dehisces or remains closed. Seeds are arranged inside, which can be scattered by the plant if the pod dehisces.

Caesalpinia spinosa is a small spiny tree or shrub reaching a height of 2-5 m (6.6-16 ft). Bark is dark gray, and young shoots are pubescent. Leaves are alternate, bipinnately compound, comprising 3-10 pairs of first-order pinnae, which in turn consist of 5-7 pairs of nearly sessile elliptic leaflets 1.5-4 cm (0.6-1.6 in) long. Inflorescences are many-flowered terminal racemes 15-20 cm (6-8 in) long. Flowers are yellow-orange, with the upper petal bearing a reddish pattern. The lower sepal is boat-shaped with characteristic long teeth along the margins. The fruit is a flat oblong indehiscent pod 6-12 cm (2.4-4.7 in) long, containing 4-7 rounded black seeds, turning reddish upon maturation.

One or two days before sowing, the seeds need to be soaked in warm water. Next, scarification is performed - the seed coat is carefully filed using a nail file, with care taken not to damage its interior. Sowing is carried out into a peat-sand mix thoroughly moistened prior to sowing. Sowing depth equals 0.5 cm (0.2 in). During germination, the substrate must always remain moist, but not waterlogged. Then the container with sowings is covered with a pane of glass or wrapped in a transparent plastic bag. The location where the pot with seeds is placed should be well lit, and the temperature maintained in the range of 20-25 °C (68-77 °F). When caring for the sowings, the cover should be removed daily for 10-15 minutes, and if the soil begins to dry, mist it from a spray bottle. First sprouts may appear within 10 days, or as late as 4 months. After a pair of true leaves develops on the plants, transplanting into individual pots can be performed.

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The plant prefers a brightly lit location where it receives at least 8 hours of good illumination. It is best to place the pot on the windowsill of an eastern or western window. If there is insufficient light, flowering will not occur. In the spring-summer period, the temperature range is 21-25 °C (70-77 °F); with the onset of autumn, values of 15-18 °C (59-64 °F) are optimal. Air humidity during cultivation should be moderate, though it can adapt to dry indoor air; however, periodic foliage misting is beneficial. As flowers fade, they should be removed from the bush. Spring pruning is recommended, but one should remember that inflorescences will develop on the current year's growth, and delaying pruning may prevent blooming. The plant is used for cultivation in the bonsai technique. In summer, taking it outdoors into fresh air is recommended.

Regular watering is required in summer - every 2-3 days. With the arrival of winter, soil watering becomes less frequent, and its top layer should dry out slightly. When the plant is young, excessive drying of the root ball is detrimental to it, although mature specimens cope easily with drought later on. If watering is insufficient, flowers may fail to form. Fertilization is carried out from the start of the growing season with a frequency of once every 14 days. In early spring, formulations with elevated nitrogen content are recommended - this is necessary for building foliar mass - while to improve flowering, fertilizers dominated by phosphorus and potassium should be applied.

While the plant is young, it must be repotted annually, but over time such pot replacement is recommended only once every 2 years. A new pot is chosen 2-3 cm (0.8-1.2 in) larger than the old one. A drainage layer is laid on the bottom. One should take into account that the most active growth and flowering is observed when the root system is completely interwoven and fills the entire volume of the pot. Only when root tips become visible in the drainage holes does that serve as a signal for repotting. A simple substrate with moderate fertility is suitable - for example, a mixture of leaf mold and sod soil with the addition of coarse sand. Commercial mixes based on high-moor peat with added perlite or vermiculite can also be used. The acidity of such a potting mix should be neutral (pH 6.5-7.5). During repotting, one must remember that damaging the root system of a young Caesalpinia will lead to its death, so this procedure is carried out by gentle potting-on.