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Desert beauty
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Enhance the beauty of your existing bonsai collection with the succulent desert rose.
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ADENIUM OBESUM, commonly known as the desert rose, is a native of Eastern Africa and Southern Arabia . The plant gets its name from the Yemeni port, Aden.
The plant, usually reaching about 1.5m in height, belongs to the family Apocynaceae. It is slow growing, needs little water and should be placed in full sun all through the year. Gradually, the desert rose grows into a large shrub.
The plant has short succulent branches and the stems are swollen at the base. Leaves are clustered at the tips of branches and are glossy, broad at ends, luscious and about eight cm long. The milky sap present in all parts of the plant is very poisonous.
The plant flowers in early summer, and often continues flowering till October. The funnel-shaped flowers are about five cm in diameter and borne terminally. The petals are white or light pink with dark pink or carmine edges. The flowers resemble the Red Plumeria - Plumeria rubra.
Adenium obesum produces two 10 cm-long jointed, finger-like fruits containing many seeds with parachute like hairs on them. The plant is reproduced by sowing seeds and by planting leafless branches in sand. Seeds are collected when the fruits dry, but before they break open. Seeds should be dried in the sun before planting in sifted sand, which is mixed with leaf mould. The plant grows well in a well-drained mixture of sand and loam (in equal measure). The plants are grown as bonsais and on rockeries or pots.
CHITRA RADHAKRISHNAN
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