This evergreen plant with glossy gardenia-like foliage is becoming increasingly popular wherever it is offered to house plant growers. It does not require any unusual culture or care that is much in its favor.
It belongs to the Acanthus family, including several other favorite plants, such as the beloperone, justicia, aphelandra, etc.
Its natural habitat is in the East Indies, Africa, and Madagascar. The Greek name means “fringed anthers”.
Crossandra’s Characteristics
The height of Crossandra undulatifolia is about 12″ inches. Pinching the tip is a good idea when it reaches the desired height. Then, the plant will branch nicely.
It is a bushy-appearing plant since the foliage is stalkless, the leaves being directly attached to the plant stem. The leaves are mostly opposite, and being shiny, they always look neat.
The flowers come from green bracts on four-sided spikes. A well-branched plant usually has several spikes, each carrying many wide clusters of overlapping florets that produce a truly unusual display.
Each flower’s slender, tubular part ends in a five-lobed, flat, clear salmon-colored showy bloom.
Blooming and Seed Production
The stamens are within the slender tube and are not visible among the florets. This secret seed-producing arrangement posed a problem when I grew my first Crossandra. How could I find the pollen within this slender tube to help nature along?
Before long, I noted that nature had a way of helping herself without my hands or the helpful insects that we depend on in the orchards and fields.
Each green bract contained a large, tan-colored, oblong seed. I was surprised to find such large seeds.
These I dried and planted, but without germination. One day, when I had several of these seeds dry and ready to store, I had what I thought was an accident.
One of the precious seeds broke open, and four nice, flat, tan-colored true seeds fell out. The large seed was a seed pod or capsule. The “do it yourself” Crossandra had revealed its seed-producing secrets.
After planting, these seeds soon germinated, and a pot of sturdy seedlings was all set for a life of their own. They bloom when they are about nine months old, and as the plant grows, more and more flower spikes are produced.
Crossandra Propagation
Propagation is easy with cuttings taken from partially mature steins at any season. Younger growth may also be rooted when taken with a heel (a small portion of the more mature stem where the young growth was removed from the plant).
Care and Maintenance
The cuttings root well in water, moist, coarse sand, or vermiculite. The usual potting soil, 1/3 each of rich loam, peat moss, or leaf mold, and coarse sand is suitable, and good drainage is necessary for all potted plants.
The soil in the pot should be moist but never muddy-wet. It does bloom month after month, but when the spikes have only a few florets left, the pot should be kept rather dry until the seed pods turn tan in color and can be taken from the bracts to continue the maturing of the seed.
Never permit the foliage to wilt or wither for lack of moisture during this semi-rest period. The spikes may be cut off after flowering if seeds are not desired. New spikes bring new florets.
This plant is happy in any window with good light and some sun. I do not recommend long, continuous hot sun for it.
My plants have also felt at home in the south bay window where the sun reached them and filtered through other taller plants. It is also being grown successfully under fluorescent lights.
44659 by Florence Knock