Арундинария

Family: grasses. Арундинария, or indoor bamboo, is a decorative foliage plant of the grass family. Its native range is Japan.

The plant forms thickets of stems united by a single rhizome. The stem and shoots of арундинарии are hollow, with transverse protruding bands that form nodes. From them grow strap-like, long, dense leaves arranged one after another. They may be colored light green or dark green in color. To the touch the leaves are stiff, somewhat dry. There are tall (up to 3 m) and dwarf арундинарии. In home conditions various species of dwarf арундинарии are most often grown, for example арундинарию блестящую, Fortune's bamboo. Tall plants decorate large spaces (halls, foyers) well.

Placement: Арундинарию should be kept in bright, cool rooms. In winter the plant tolerates temperatures of 10-13 °C in a well-lit room, but without direct sunlight.

Care: In summer арундинария needs abundant watering and regular additional misting with warm room-temperature water. In winter watering should be reduced, applied only after the top layer of soil has dried. In the spring–summer period any organic or mineral fertilizers are applied once a month. Low but wide containers are used for planting арундинарии. As a substrate a soil mix is used, consisting of four parts turf soil, four parts leaf soil and one part sand.

Propagation: арундинария is propagated by division of the rhizome of an adult plant or by cut green shoots. These are collected when pruning the adult plant in spring or summer. Cuttings are rooted in a warmed soil mix and grown at high temperature and humidity.