| Life form | Bush |
| Family | Euphorbiaceae |
| Origin | Tropical and subtropical regions of America |
| Ease of cultivation | Easy with small difficulties |
| The size | Up to 60-80 cm in height, large specimens are not too decorative |
| Growth rate | High, up to 15-20 cm per year |
| Lifespan | A perennial plant, over the years due to bare exposure of the lower part of the shoots. |
| Temperature | In the summer: 77, up to 86 ° F, in winter, during ventilation, the plant should be protected from cold air. |
| Humidity | High, especially in winter, you should put the pot in a tray with wet pebbles, spray the plant on top daily. |
| Lighting | A bright place. In bright light, the leaves are better painted, the plant tolerates even a small amount of direct sun, but on the southern window it requires shading. It grows best on the west window. In bright light, a red rim is formed on the leaves. |
| The soil | Fertile soil, which includes sand, for example: 3 parts of garden soil, 1 part of peat, 1 part of sand. However, the plant is not too demanding on soil conditions. Good drainage is required. |
| Watering | In summer, regular watering (2-3 times a week and more often), the soil should not dry out, it is better that it is constantly moderately moist. In winter, watering is reduced to 1 time in 4-5 days. In case of insufficient watering, the plant can lower the lower leaves. |
| Fertilizer | From spring to autumn, every 3-4 weeks, liquid mineral fertilizer with a reduced nitrogen content, diluted twice as much as recommended. The organic fertilizer is more suitable for the the plant. |
| Reproduction | The apical cuttings 8-10 cm long, at least with two pairs of healthy leaves (the lower pair should be cut off), in spring in a greenhouse (or covered with polyethylene) in a mixture of peat and perlite or earth with sand, it is desirable to use heteroauxin at a temperature of 73,4-77 F FROM. After pruning the cuttings, it should be held in water for a while to wash off the milky juice. In 2-3 weeks after the germination begins, rootlets appear on them. In the future, you can plant up to 3 cuttings in one pot. Reproduction by seeds is rarely used. |
| Bloom | Blooms in winter: nondescript flowers are collected in umbellate inflorescences, but 2 bright-red cover sheets at the base of the inflorescence are rather decorative. |
| Transfer | In spring, with the beginning of growth as the pot is filled with roots. After transplantation for a while, the plant should be shaded. Do not transplant the plant too often. You can only replace the top layer of the earth. It grows better in a close pot. |
| Features of care | The plant does not like drafts and gas combustion products. |
| Difficulties | It is affected most often by a mealybug, whitefly, and also aphids, spider mite. The tips of the leaves turn yellow and dry out from too dry air or in too hot sun. If the plant leaves are small, green and fall off quickly, the most likely cause, is the lack of light. The leaves turn green, their petioles do not develop with an excessive amount of nitrogen in the soil. In winter, after airing, all the leaves can fall out from the the plant. If the shoots are frozen too, they should be cut off and wait for the appearance of new ones.If the shoots do not freeze and remain green, the plant will not die. |
| Air cleaning | – |
| Toxicity | Species of this genus can be harmful to animals. have a poisonous milky juice. |
