The hooked ounce is often described as a cereal. And although this is really a cereal plant, it belongs to the sedge family and until recently was part of the sedge genus. It even has a common name - Hawaiian sedge, it comes from New Zealand and Hawaii, where it grows on the coasts, among forest or shrub vegetation at altitudes up to 1000 m.It is found along the edges of wetlands, like an urban weed in parks.
The plant is extremely attractive with a combination of green, copper, red foliage. A bright accent among cereals, and in any corner of the garden.
Ouncinia hooked (Uncinia uncinata) - it is a dense perennial evergreen plant 30-60 cm tall, forming a bunch of flat linear leaves 5-10 mm wide (in varieties already, 2-5 mm), dark green or reddish-green, covered with small scales on the upper side, rough along the edge ... Stems are small, tough, straight. The inflorescence is an apical spike bearing male flowers in the upper part, and in the lower part there are numerous sacs enclosing female flowers, from which a hook-shaped spikelet axis bent at the top protrudes, which is a modified covering scales. The function of the hooks is to attach to animal skins and bird feathers in order to spread seeds. This is reflected in the genus name, from the Latin word uncinuswhich means hook or thorn.
Spikelets are narrow, 5.5-20 cm long and 2-3.5 mm wide, brown or yellowish with a green midrib, often completely dark brown, sometimes greenish-pink.
Whole genus of uncinia (Uncinia) includes 70 plant species. And hooked ouzinia is the most variable of the New Zealand species, and there are more than 30 species of them! The rest are native to Australia and South America.
The leaves of this plant usually have a color from dark green to yellow-green, but there are also dark red forms, one of these forms - "Red" - wine-red, often appears on sale under the wrong name Uncinia red (Uncinia rubra). Young leaves are especially brightly colored.
Growing ounces
Ouncinia hooked is a heat-loving plant, winter-hardy only up to -12 degrees. It is planted for the summer in herb gardens, in curbs and cereal compositions, in rockeries and containers.
Growing conditions... The place for the uncinia is chosen open, sunny, only a slight partial shade in the middle of the day is possible.
The soil the plant needs a drained, moist, rich organic matter. The best option would be to plant it in compost.
Watering... The soil is kept constantly moist, while avoiding excess moisture.
Top dressing... If the planting pit or container has been filled with compost, then no further fertilizing is required. If the plant has grown a lot and the foliage has begun to lose its bright shades, you can feed it with potassium monophosphate. Although this is a signal for the need for division.
Wintering... In the open ground of central Russia, this plant is not capable of wintering. For the winter, it is placed in a container in a cool room. Since the plant is evergreen, the place of winter keeping should be light, for example, a winter garden, a glazed loggia, etc. The temperature should not fall below + 5 ° C.
Reproduction of ounces
The easiest way to breed an uncinia is by dividing the curtain, which is carried out in the spring.
You can propagate the plant with seeds, but they are often underdeveloped. In addition, seed offspring do not always inherit the most valuable decorative traits - the peculiarities of foliage coloration. Since red uncinia is most often on sale, valuable for its decorative foliage, it is better to propagate it by division.
