Cacti - bizarre archetypes with a thorn dress
Cacti are the most famous representatives of succulent plants. Within this multi-faceted family, there are tiny things from a few centimeters to giants that stretch 10 meters and higher towards the sky. The following species rank high in the ranking of the most popular houseplants because they stand out with a furious combination of bizarre shape, beautiful flowers and colorful thorns in scene set:
- Golden ball cactus (Echinocactus grusonii) with golden yellow thorns and bright yellow flowers
- Old man's head (Cephalocereus senilis) with white hairy, columnar body and pink funnel-shaped flowers
- Christmas cactus (Schlumberga), leaf cactus without thorns and with a breathtaking abundance of flowers at Christmas time
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The magical 'Queen of the Night' (Selenicereus grandiflorus) should not be missing from this selection. At night, salmon-colored flowers up to 30 cm in size develop on their slender, climbing tendrils, giving off a seductive scent.
King agave - royal beauty for the windowsill
Representing the fascinating agave family, we are introducing you to the king agave (Agave victoriae-reginae). It forms a dense rosette with its dark green, white edged sword blades. In contrast to other agaves, the leaf margins are smooth. Only at the tips are there 2 cm long end spines. With a maximum height of 50 cm, the king agave is one of the most beautiful succulents Houseplants.
Carrion flower - flowers with a distinctive fragrance
A superlative succulent comes from the silk plant family. The large-flowered carrion flower (Stapelia gigantea) trumps with 40 cm large flowers, whose attraction nobody can escape. Their light yellow basic color shows numerous red horizontal stripes. In addition, the petals are covered with purple hairs. Since the exotic pretiose grows to a height of 30 to 50 cm, it is actually a prime example of representative species - if it weren't for the unpleasant smell of carrion.
Thick leaf plants - floral jewelry for your home
The thick leaf family has a wide variety of representative species to offer for greening living spaces. To make the agony of choice easier for you, we have put together the most beautiful specimens for you:
- Penny tree (Crassula ovata), shrub-like ornamental wood with thick, shiny green, oval ornamental leaves
- Gold-Sedum plant (Sedum floriferum), delicate ground cover for bowls and troughs with golden yellow flowers
- Aeonium arboreum trumps with dark wine-red leaf rosettes and yellowish-white flowers
A classic among the most beautiful thick-leaf plants for the home is Flammendes Käthchen (Kalanchoe blossfeldiana). The succulent ornamental plant from Madagascar has everything we could want from a representative houseplant. With a height of 30 cm and long-lasting spring bloom, the succulent plant is equally suitable for flower pots and traffic lights. The plant stores water in its thick-fleshed leaves so that it does not go limp when its gardener occasionally does this to water missed.
Spurge - wild charm with a succulent character
Because it has numerous representative species, the entire genus was created Milkweed named Perennial of the Year in 2013. As the following selection shows, all Euphorbia deserve the title of succulent beauty queen.
- Candelabra spurge (Euphorbia abyssinica), majestic giant with angular shoots that can reach up to the ceiling
- Baseball spurge (Euphorbia obesa) attracts everyone's attention with its spherical body
- Christ thorn (Euphorbia milii var. milii), poisonous and thorny, but with a beautiful bloom in the middle of winter
- Tirucalli spurge (Euphorbia tirucalli), richly branched shrub whose pencil-thin shoots are reminiscent of tuning forks
The genus of the milkweed family has several representative species for the Christmas season. In addition to the thorn-studded Christ thorn, the Christmas star (Euphorbia pulcherrima) conquered a regular place on the wintry Flower bank. In the bright location with a pleasant 20 degrees Celsius, the flowering period extends from November to February.
Rectangular herbs give us succulent hanging plants
Representative species among succulents are not limited to an appearance along the window and flower sill. The following species from the ragweed family are predestined for the spectacular decoration of traffic lights and hanging baskets:
- Peas on a ribbon (Senecio rowleyanus) with spherical, green leaves along thin shoots up to 100 cm long
- Hanging ragwort (Senecio herreianus) impresses with gray-green, red-striped, thick leaves on 70 cm long tendrils
Incidentally, the succulents among the ragweeds have well-known, non-succulent conspecifics. The spring ragwort, for example, is well known to us from natural gardens and is feared among farmers because it is poisonous for grazing cattle.
Tips
Numerous representative species cannot be recognized as succulents at first glance. This includes the popular lucky feather (Zamioculcas zamiifolia), which should not be missing on any window sill. With its dark green pinnate leaves on tightly upright shoots, the African beauty gives even light-poor niches green vibrancy. Home gardeners with limited time are lucky enough to have the easy-care Succulents to call their own.