Pentachondra pumila
| Pentachondra pumila | |
| Light: |  |
| Moisture: |  |
| Hardiness: | 8 |
| Soil pH: | 5.6-7.3 |
| Evergreen | |
| Height: | 0.3' |
| Width: | 2' |
| Blooms: | Early Summer-Mid Summer |
| Native to: | |
| Edible Rating: |  |
| Tea: | Yes |
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Pentachondra pumila
Propagation: Seed - best sown as soon as it is ripe in the autumn. Seed can be very slow to germinate, sometimes taking 5 years. Stored seed and perhaps also freshly sown seed is best scarified[1]. Sow stored seed as soon as it is received. Two or three periods of 4 - 6 weeks cold stratification can also help to reduce the germination time[1]. When they are large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and grow them on in the greenhouse for at least their first winter. Plant them out into their permanent positions in late spring or early summer, after the last expected frosts. Consider giving the plants some protection from the cold for at least their first winter outdoors.
Cuttings of half-ripe wood, July/August in a frame[2]. Subsequent growth is slow[3].
Division of rooted offsets[2].
Cultivation: Requires an open position in a moisture-retentive gritty peaty pocket of lime-free soil in a rock garden[4][2]. Plants are intolerant of drought[2]. Prefers mild winters and relatively cool moist summers[2]. Plants are difficult to grow in cultivation, especially in hot dry areas[5].
This species only succeeds outdoors in the mildest areas of the country, it is hardy to about -5°c[2].
In Australia the green fruit hangs on the plant overwinter and ripens in the following early summer[3]. Plants rarely fruit in Britain[2].
Range: Australia - New South Wales, Tasmania, Victoria. New Zealand.
Habitat: Boggy and peaty ground[2] on heaths, tall alpine herb fields and sod-tussock grassland in the alpine and sub-alpine zones of Australia[6].
Edibility: Fruit - raw or cooked[7]. Sweet and watery[8]. The fruit is a fleshy drupe about 12mm in diameter and comprising about 5 - 10 one-seeded nuts[2].
Soil: Can grow in light and medium soils.
In Leaf: Evergreen
Flower Type: Hermaphrodite
Links
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Bird, Alfred. Focus on Plants Volume 5. Thompson and Morgan, 1991.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 Huxley, Anthony. The New Royal Horticultural Society Dictionary of Gardening. MacMillan Press, 1992.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Wrigley, John and Murray Fagg. Australian Native Plants. Collins, 1988.
- ↑ Thomas, Graham. Ornamental Shrubs, Climbers and Bamboos. Murray, 1992.
- ↑ Brickell, Christopher. The RHS Gardener's Encyclopedia of Plants and Flowers. Dorling Kindersley Publishers, 1990.
- ↑ Ewart, Alfred. Recording Census of the Victorian Flora. 1923.
- ↑ Cribb, Alan and Joan Cribb. Wild Food in Australia. Fontana, 1976.
- ↑ Low, Tim. Wild Food Plants of Australia. Angus and Robertson, 1989.