| Life form | A small shrub, there are erect and ample species. |
| Family | Acanthaceae |
| Origin and distribution | Africa, India, Southeast Asia. Named in honor of the French botanist of the 17th centurybarrels Jacques (Jacques Barrelier). In the home and garden horticulture is usually cultivated following: barleria comb (Barleria cristata), b. creeping (B. repens), b. wolf (B.lupulina), b. gleaming (B. micans). Occasionally b. dull (B. obtusa), and b. Barbed (B.prionitis). |
| Ease of cultivation | Easy to care for, quite unpretentious. |
| The size | Up to 1.2 m in height. |
| Growth rate | It grows quite quickly, by cutting the shoots the plant can be given an interesting shape. |
| Lifespan | Perennial. |
| Temperature | In the summer: the usual room temperature (about 69,8 ° F); in winter – the optimum temperature is 50-59 ° F. To stimulate flowering, the differences in nighttime and daytime temperatures are useful. The plant can tolerate a short-term temperature drop of up to 50 ° F. |
| Humidity | Approximately 50%. Sufficiently easy to adapt to dry air, does not require additional spraying. |
| Lighting | Barleria prefer bright but diffused light, on the southern window need to make shade. The plant is placed away from the glass. It is also possible to place on the western and eastern window. With strong light, the leaves turn pale, with a lack of lighting, the plant weakly blooms, the shoots stretch, the leaves become shallow. |
| The soil | It is suitable fo the soil to have friable nutritional acidity with pH 5,6 – 7,5. |
| Watering | Fairly moderate watering is necessary, the soil must dry a little between humidification. In winter, watering should be rare as the substrate dries out. When watering with cold water, the leaves can turn brown. |
| How to fertilize | Feed every two weeks, with a liquid balanced fertilizer or a mixture for flowering plants with high phosphorus content. With insufficient nutrition, the plant becomes depressed. In winter it is rare to fertilize, more often than once a month. |
| Reproduction | In spring and summer it can easily be propagated by cuttings 8-10 cm long. They are planted in a loose substrate, covering the cuttings with polyethylene. Usually the roots appear about a week later. Barleria propagated via cuttings bloom in the same year. You can propagate by seeds, but such plants will bloom later in the second or third year. Seeds can be obtained independently, they mature in pods, approximately 4 pieces. Collect the seeds before the pod completely ripens, otherwise the seeds will be in pots with neighboring plants. Sow the seeds in spring in a loose substrate and germinate under the film at a temperature of not less than 64,4-68 ° F. Germination lasts about 2 weeks. When the seedlings are strong, they are dived and transplanted into small pots with a diameter of about 6 cm, then plucked and transferred to larger pots. |
| Bloom | The flowering period usually begins in the summer months. Depending on the type of flowers can be a variety of colors: red, pink, blue, white-lilac, yellow, white. Flowers last 1-2 days, but usually the plant blooms very abundantly and is covered with flowers for a long time. When the plant is moved to the penumbra, the flowering period is extended. |
| Transfer | Transplant once a year or two in the spring. When transplanting, do not take too large a pot. |
| Features of care | Needs a constant formation of the bush. Immediately after the end of flowering or early spring, a radical pruning of the shoots is necessary. You can leave twigs 10-15 cm long. However, the plant is not cut off by summer, as the buds mature only on the shoots of the current year, and with constant pruning they will not have time to form. |
| Difficulties | It is affected most often by a spider mites, scutellum and whiteflies. The plant rarely suffers from pests. According to the observations of flower growers, the plant is not affected by insects, even when the plants surrounding it are affected. In case of insufficient illumination, flowering stops, small leaves and elongated internodes are formed. With excessive watering, root rot is possible. |
| Toxicity | There is no information about the poisonousness of this plant. However, it is used in folk medicine in the treatment of snake bites. |
