Indoor nightshade pleases with its beauty all year round. This small green tree is strewn with flowers, followed by rounded fruits that change color as they ripen. In some countries, it is customary to give this plant on the eve of Valentine's Day or on March 8th.

Nightshade Flower: Common Species

In nature, nightshade plants have many forms - there are trees, herbaceous plants and shrubs. The stem in solanaceous plants can be erect or creeping, leaves - simple or cirrus-dissected. The color of the corolla is white, yellow, pink or purple. And for the beauty of the nightshade berries it is called a coral tree.

In decorative floriculture, the following types are popular:

  1. Pepper-shaped. A shrub up to 50 cm high, has gray-green, dark leaves with wavy edges and white, inconspicuous flowers. Poisonous berries ripen in the winter, at first they are yellow, then they turn red.
  2. False transverse. It is similar to the previous view, but can grow up to one and a half meters in height. It blooms continuously throughout the year. On the plant, flowers and fruits of varying degrees of maturity flaunt at the same time. In indoor floriculture, dwarf forms are grown, up to 30 cm high.
  3. Jasmine. The stem is curly, the leaves are complex, oval-lanceolate, composed of three or five leaves. White with a blue tint flowers are collected in panicle inflorescences.
  4. Curly. Curly stem of the plant grows in length up to 5 meters. The leaves are oval, dark green, lilac flowers, collected in inflorescences-shields.
  5. Nightshade Rantonetti. Grows in the form of a miniature tree, flowers are blue, small.
  6. Papillary.The species received its name for the interesting shape of the fruit. They are elongated and look like a cow udder with nipples. The bush can grow up to 1 meter in height, it has soft leaves resembling burdocks. There are thorns on thick stems. The flowers are white or purple, the fruits are yellow or orange.

The genus Solanaceae belongs to the Solanaceae family, which has about 1200 species. This family has crops - the well-known tomatoes, eggplant, potatoes and peppers. Found among nightshade and medicinal plants.

Ideal conditions for growing nightshade

Indoor nightshade is a thermophilic plant that is not picky about the type of soil. But it grows best on loose, alkaline, loamy or clay soils.

In nature, nightshade grows in tropical, subtropical and temperate regions, South America is its homeland.

There are not many secrets of leaving - nightshade loves water and bright sunlight, but direct sunlight is contraindicated to him. The plant must be replanted annually.

The first time this is done 2 weeks after the purchase. They are transplanted into the pot 1 cm larger than the previous one in volume. Drainage is laid on the bottom, then soil is poured. Suitable universal soil from the store for garden and indoor crops.

Watering should be moderate in winter and plentiful on hot days. Spraying the plant loves plentiful.

How to care for a flower at home

It is difficult to achieve flowering of nightshade in room conditions. Many refer to it as an annual plant for open ground, but if you know the secrets of care, you can successfully grow it for many years in a row in an apartment.

Decorative nightshade is a fruiting plant that has been on sale since May, and its fruits are preserved until winter. Then often the plants are thrown out, not knowing that these are perennials. If you provide them with wintering in a cold room, they will delight in spring or summer with abundant flowering.

Transplanted nightshade in the spring. You can immediately give it the desired shape, since the plant responds well to the haircut. Nightshade does not tolerate drafts - during the ventilation of a room it must be cleaned in a safe place.

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Plant propagation

Propagated by nightshade cuttings. One branch of the plant is cut and rooted in light soil.

Before planting, a cut of the cut is treated with Kornevin so that the roots grow better.

Still nightshade can be propagated by seeds. When the berries ripen, they will fall, and seeds can be extracted from them. They are planted in June or July. If the berry is in the ground, it gives the bores of a new plant, the seeds can not be removed.

Diseases and pests - how to treat?

Nightshade can be affected by pests.

  • Of particular danger is the aphid, which settles on young shoots. For spraying use aphids.
  • If the air is dry, a spider mite can settle on the lower part of the leaves, which can be easily seen by thin cobwebs on the leaves and dot spots. He can quickly destroy the plant, from his life, the leaves dry out. For spraying, acaricides are used, the leaves from the spray gun are moistened.
  • Various fungal diseases can lead to decay of the stem and leaves, the appearance of spots. For the treatment of diseased plants, fungicides are used, and strongly affected parts of the plant are cut and destroyed. If an unpleasant musty smell comes from the ground, nightshade is removed from the pot, the roots are washed, rotted ones are cut, treated with fungicide and planted in fresh soil.

Possible growing problems

The appearance of the plant will tell about problems in cultivation.

It is difficult to appear, most often, with improper care:

  • if nightshade stands in the bright sun, its leaves will curl;
  • in severe shading, the stem will stretch, and the leaves will fall;
  • if there is a lack of nutrients in the soil, the color of the leaves changes; if there is not enough nitrogen, they turn light green;
  • if after flowering no fruits are formed, nightshade should be pollinated independently, transferring pollen from flower to flower with a brush;
  • with insufficient watering, the leaves dry and turn yellow;
  • at high humidity or too high air temperature nightshade drops fruit.

It can be concluded that nightshade needs bright diffused light, regular moderate watering, top dressing and air humidity above 50%.

Poison and healing properties of the flower

Nightshade flowers appear in spring or summer, they look like little stars. Then berries are tied, which look very decorative. At first green, then yellow, orange and red - the whole bush is strewn with colorful balls, like a Christmas tree.

But the berries of the plant are poisonous.

Their unreasonably large use can lead to death, so you need to keep the nightshade away from children and animals. There are types of nightshade, suitable for food, but their fruits are still rarely eaten fresh.

The plant also has healing properties. In traditional medicine, dried nightshade fruits are used in the fight against angina. They are harvested from August to October. Berries must be dark, fully ripe, you can not use green berries, because they have a lot of corned beef. The leaves of the plant are harvested from July to September, they also help in the treatment of various ailments. Fruits and leaves are dried in the fresh air, stored in boxes covered with paper.

The berries of the edible species of nightshade are dried, frozen, twisted with sugar or honey. They are used to treat epilepsy and migraine attacks. Decoctions of flowers are indicated for pulmonary diseases and catarrh of the respiratory tract. The plant is used in combination with other herbs to enhance their therapeutic effect.

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