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Desert rose

Adenium

Desert rose
Photo: PEAK99, CC BY 3.0

Adenium is a genus of succulent flowering shrubs and small trees from Africa and Arabia, best known in cultivation as the desert rose (mainly Adenium obesum and its many hybrids). Grow it in very well-drained soil with plenty of sun and water only when the soil is dry.

Family
Apocynaceae (Dogbane family)
Light
Full sun, Bright indirect
Water
Water thoroughly only when the soil is fully dry, and reduce sharply in winter.
Soil
Fast-draining cactus or succulent mix with added grit or perlite.
Temperature
18–35 °C; protect below 10 °C
How easy
Easy
Safety
Toxic: The sap of A. obesum, A. boehmianum and A. multiflorum contains toxic cardiac glycosides, and it is used as arrow poison in Africa.

About

Adenium is a genus of flowering plants in the family Apocynaceae first described as a genus in 1819. It is native to Africa and the Arabian Peninsula.

How to grow it

Adenium obesum is grown as a houseplant in temperate and tropical regions. Numerous hybrids have been developed. Adeniums are appreciated for their colorful flowers and unusual thick caudices. They can be grown for many years in a pot and are commonly used for bonsai.

Because seed-grown plants are not genetically identical to the mother plant, desirable varieties are commonly propagated by grafting. Genetically identical plants can also be propagated by cutting. Cutting-grown plants do not tend to develop a desirable thick caudex as quickly as seed-grown plants.

Other Adenium plants

Adenium arabicum · Adenium multiflorum · Desert-rose

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Adenium by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.

The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.

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