Author Archives: Canarius

All about the Kasturi Mango in Europe, Mangifera casturi

Canarius | Thursday December 9th, 2021 |

Kasturi is not just another good-tasting cultivar of mango. It is a fully different species of Mangifera, from Kalimantan (Borneo). Some people say it is not a mango, it is a Kasturi! Fruits of Mangifera casturi are black-purple skinned, their flesh is deep orange, sweet and loaded with flavour and vitamines.

Kasturi is extinct in the wild and survived in cultivation

The species was unknown in the western world until a few years ago. It is sadly extinct in the wild, as Kalimantan forests have been extensively cut. It survived in cultivation around its native areas. The Banjar people of the South of the island hold these fruits in high esteem. No commercial plantations have ever existed, while they are grown for personal consumption by lots of private farmers-gardeners, since the wild harvest is no longer possible. The natural forest is lost forever and we can rescue only a slice of its original diversity.

Casturi mangoes can grow very tall and its hard to pick them. They do well in low altitude lands with alluvial soil and enough water. The fruits is consumed fresh and seldom processed in jams since fresh fruits are always in great demand by the Banjar. The rest of the world barely knew about the existance of this extinct-in-the-wild fruit and only a group of specialists in South Florida and in the Canary Islands became familiar with them.

To graft or not to graft Kasturi?

Yes! Unless you live in a deeply tropical everwet lowland, then you’d better graft it on Mangifera indica. This is because Mangifera casturi has delicate roots which are adapted to equatorial soil conditions. Non-grafted kasturi will take eons to grow and fruit in non-tropical areas. Their leaves often grow crinkled when it is not hot enough and the trees are sensitive to wind. It is a bit tricky to graft M.casturi on M.indica but we do it, and we graft them on the cold-proof mango rootstocks from Mangifera Gomera-1 and Gomera-3. This changes the whole world and allows the delicate equatorial kasturi to grow very well here in the non-tropical Canary Islands. Grafted trees are stouter, with darker, thicker, shorter leaves, they flush well even if not in summer and fruit much earlier and regularly.

Kasturi mangoes in Europe

We have been leaders in disseminating Mangifera casturi throughout Europe, since we shipped the first grafted plants in 2016. So far, our plants reached lots of customers, mostly collectors scattered throughout Europe. It is by far too early to tell, but we got lots of positive reports from our clients. Quite a few have been planted outdoors in the best climates and now they are growing outdoors in Madeira, Southern Italy, Portugal and Greece. In the meantime, kasturi trees are becoming popular among collectors in Florida, since the team of Fairchild Gardens started to show and spread them.

Where did the Canarian kasturis come from?

They are the grandchildren of the Bajar trees ! In the late 1990′s Fairchild Gardens of Miami organised a collection of rare Mangifera species with lots of new seeeds and scions coming from the countries of origin. The team of Richard J. Campbell studied their growth and grafting. They selected the ones that best thrived in South Florida.

Richard was in touch with Domingo Fernandez-Galvan, of the ICIA research center in Tenerife, who soon got backups of the best scions. Domingo grew them to maturity in the lands of the astonishing collection of fruits “La Cueva del Polvo”, held by the ICIA in SW Tenerife, in a mild, always dry, sunny and windless climate. Two kasturi trees grew huge and started fruiting but they fell into oblivion, both because they were not part of any research project of the ICIA, and because Domingo and other workers did not like the fruits, for being small, with too many fibres and a strong wild flavour. In one visit to the fruit collection, around 2006, Carlo Morici of the Palmetum de Santa Cruz tried some fruits Mangifera casturi and Mangifera laurina from the trees and fell in love with them. He got a box of fruits from Domingo and shared them with friends. Many found in that it was a new superior taste. Carlo convinced Domingo to give more attention to these wild species and Domingo soon organised a release of this new fruit tree with the help of Miguel, expert grafter, fruit grower and nurseryman of Northern Tenerife. Miguel had signed an official cooperation and could get a few hundreds of scions to make the first commercial sales and more mother plants for the future. Domingo passed away a few years later but thanks to him the orchards of Tenerife include hundreds of rare fruit trees, like kasturi and more.

A Rainbow of Bananas

Canarius | Thursday December 6th, 2018 |

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We took this picture in June 2018 in order to show the incredible diversity of bananas that we pick in our nursery. We grow more than 80 different cultvars, with different tastes, shapes and colours, with the aim of producting quality suckers for our webshop.

The bananas that we put on our wooden bench for this pircture belong to the following cultivars, clockwise: Cavendish, Dwarf Red (Figue Rose), Blue Java, Rajapuri and Monkey Fingers.

Cavendish is the most widespread yellow banana of the world trade. Dwarf Red , or Figue Rose, is the most common red-skinned banana. Blue Java, Rajapuri and Monkey Fingers are non-commercial bananas, only grown on a small scale or in family backyards for their great taste.

When we post for the frist time this photo, in our facebook page we reached in a few days 12k people. An astonishing record.

You can check the original photo in our facebook page .

We sell the plants of all these bananas through our website www.canarius.com. If you want to go straight to our BANANA SECTION click the link.

Three bananas grown in Tenerife: Dwarf Curare Plantain, Dwarf Red and Manzano.

Pollinating a rare Cycad: First phase, collecting the pollen from the male

Canarius | Sunday July 22nd, 2018 |

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A male cone is ready!

We grow different species of cycads as mother plants in order to obtain seeds for propagation. Here we show the mountain form of Cycas diannanensis. In february 2018, as our plants are about 8 years old, the first specimen achieved maturity and it is a male. Once the tall cone is fully exposed and developed it starts to shed yellow pollen.

Here in Tenerife, February is cool and wet. No females are ready, but one of the adjoining plants is now showing the tip of a female cone, which is much shorter and wider. It will be ready later, probably in mid-summer when the hot weather will make it grow faster.

So we collect the pollen from the male Cycas diannanensis ‘Mountain Form’ and store it for a later use. The pollen is put in a paper envelope and gently dried. It has to be refrigerated in order to last for months. Once the female cone will be ready we will try to inject the pollen inside to make the pollination happen. Our goal is to produce seeds and seedlings for our website www.canarius.com

What is Cycas diannanensis ‘Mountain Form’ ?

Cold-hardy cycad from high elevation, with broad leaflets. Leaf margins are flat or undulate, not twisted on the rachis. It is a widespread species in China, distributed through central and eastern Yunnan, often found on steep slopes high on ridges, between about 600 and 1800 m. This species was described in the 1990′s. Leaves are bright green or deep green, highly glossy, 140-330 cm long. Cycas diannanensis is another frost hardy species.

This particular form of Cycas diannanensis was formerly named by Chinese botanists Cycas parvulus, known from the material collected around Mengdian village.

Cultivation and benefits of different cultivars of banana

Canarius | Friday June 16th, 2017 |

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Edible cultivars or varieties in the genus Musa are simply called bananas. They are non-woody herbaceous plants in the Musaceae family. They are all seedless domestic crops, not wild plants, and there are more than 600 banana cultivars, originating from Eastern Africa through India to the SE Pacific Islands. Bananas (and plantains), are also considered one of the most important crops in the world, after rice, wheat and corn and others.

The standard yellow Musa ‘Cavendish’ and similar bananas feed most of the world market, but the “other” cultivars are more by far more interesting and some taste truly different. They can be told apart by their size, colour, taste or way of consumption. Some are eaten raw and ripe, some are cooking-bananas prepared in different ways. The best traditional way to eat them is to steam or boil them in their own skin. The fruits of some cultivars can be eaten both raw and cooked, while a few african cultivars are exclusively planted to make banana beer!

Although most of the cultivars are grown for their fruit, some are also known for their ornamental beauty or ritual value. More ancient cultivars are still being discovered, every few years, especially in Papua and the surrounding islands. Most of them are in risk of extinction, since they are often being replaced by modern cultivars and succumb to new diseases.

Cultivation and growth

Bananas do not have a resting season, so they grow throughout the year. Growth is quite fast, and they need a series of recommendations such as direct sun, low wind, good drainage in the soil and irrigation approximately two or three times a week. A young

Musa will flower after one to two years. Roots are superficial and do not need deep soils, so bananas can be grown in large shallow pots, especially the dwarf varieties. Each cultivar is slightly different but two tricks work for all, in order to make better fruits:

The weight and the sweetness of the bunch depends on the leaf surface and soil nutrients: keep your plant with many leaves and well fed.

Bananas make offshoots and become clumps. Remove most of these offshoots and keep small clumps with few, healthier shoots.

Bananas do not set seeds, so they are propagated by offshoots, removed with few or no roots. From Canarius we ship offshoots with a thick rounded corm, they root quickly in wet and draining soil if temperatures are kept between 20 and 30 C. Commercial cultivars are also micropropagated in vitro for mass production.

Climate and hardiness

When we talk about a tropical plant we think that its cultivation and growth must take place in an ever-warm environment, but many Musa cultivars do stand lower temperatures. Banana trees are classified with A and B letters, referring to their genetic origin. The most cold resistant bananas are the triploids (the ones with three letters) with more B’s, like AAB or ABB. ABB bananas do fairly well in Mediterranean climates with little or no protection in winter.

AA (diploid) bananas and Fehi bananas do better in the tropics with no dry season.
Triploid bananas (AAA, AAB and ABB) grow well also in the subtropics
ABB bananas are typically the most resistant to cold and drought.

Here in the Canary Islands all commercial plantations grow the Cavendish (AAA), but each winter we see how the trees often get dull green and shred many leaves. In turn, other ABB bananas grown in family orchards keep their glossy green and push new leaves through winter.

Our favourite tall hardy bananas

Musa ‘Orinoco’
Musa ‘Blue Java’
Musa ‘Pisang Awak’ (also called Namwah)
Musa ‘Lep Chang Kut’
Musa ‘Saba’
Musa ‘Namwah Dam’
Musa ‘Praying Hands’’

Three good dwarf hardy bananas

Musa ‘Dwarf Brazilian’
Musa ‘Rajapuri’
Musa ‘Dwarf Orinoco’

A fruit with multiple benefits

Considered as one of the most complete fruits, its benefits are almost innumerable. First of all, bananas are real food that fills you up in a healthy way. It is rich in carbohydrates, but the truth is that this fruit is a great source of vegetable energy composed of three types of sugars with almost no fat content.

In the ripening process of dessert bananas, starch is reduced from 15-25% to less than 5% and transformed in simple sugars: sucrose, glucose and fructose. Cooking bananas keep most of their starch. All bananas have abundant fibers, potassium, vitamins, minerals and complex aromas with ascorbic, citric and malic acids and a number of volatile compounds typical of each cultivar. Yes, you can live on a banana-based diet, as many people did for thousands of years in SE Asia and the Pacific islands!

This fruit prevents digestive disorders, fights depression or alleviates constipation and it also helps with fluid retention. Many cultivars are rich in provitamine-A, or carotenoids. These bananas usually have a pinkish-orange flesh, and not white as in the Cavendish. Fehi bananas are the kings of provitamine-A and their deep orange flesh has up to 100 times more carotenoids than a standard banana, and more than most fruits in this world.

Banana cultivars in Canarius

In Canarius we have a wide variety of edible Musa cultivars, each with its own characteristics. Here are some examples:

Musa ‘Ney Poovan’: This Indian cultivar bears small fruits with white flesh and a very sweet taste.

Musa ‘Figue Famille’: Characteristic for its curved fruit with a bottleneck apex, this cultivar is a “Pome” banana with a very fine flavour.

Musa ‘Curare Enano’: This is a commercial plantain, with good and regular bunch production. This variety is mainly grown in Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama, Dominican Republic, Ecuador and Colombia, from where it is exported to the rest of the world.

Musa ‘Figue Rose Naine’: Dwarf red bananas bear fruits with a very unusual purple skin. During their ripening process they will have a dark purple color, passing through red and finally red-and-yellow, when it can already be eaten.

All about cycas and their growth

Canarius | Wednesday May 24th, 2017 |

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By its appearance, most cycads look like palm trees. In fact, they are considered pseudo-palms, but they belong to a different family. The genus Cycas is part of the Cycadaceae family, exotic plants from warmer parts of Asia and Oceania. They do not produce flowers, but cones, much like pine trees.

They are plants of great antiquity that have conserved very well their characteristics, so much that some consider them living fossils and speak of them like plant of the immortality. The truth is that Cycads are modern plants that are still evolving and speciating like any other plant, but they just kept their “primitive” architecture.

Slow growth

One of the outstanding characteristics of these plants is their growth. Many Cycas species grow very slowly, they need patience but their maintenance is simple and require few resources. All of them love drainage, none of them loves frost. Little fertilizer is required because they have some special algae living in their “coralloid roots” that fix air nitrogen to the soil, so cycads literally make their own fertilizer from thin air.

However, it is advisable to take care of the spot where they are planted. None of them loves direct sunlight when young, but once they get older some species need full sun while some others need some shade.

Read carefully about each species and see where they are from: some of them can take some frost, while some others are strictly tropical. A few species evolved in the Australian desert. They usually have blueish leaves and they can also be deciduous in the dry season, staying as resting stumps for months.

Thick roots … good for pots!

When you buy the typical 3-5 years old plant from us, you will see that young plants have thick deep roots like carrots (and also “coralloid roots” like corals !). In turn, adult plants have rather superficial roots that do not go too deep.

So, it is important that pots are deep and with bottom drainage. An excess of water damages the cycas, so drainage and moderate watering are key. But adult plants can live for eons in 40-50 cm deep pots, so many collectors living in cold climates choose to grow them in large pots that will be kept indoors during the colder months.

With age, most Cycas species will generate a trunk, also called the caudex, reminiscent of palm trees and long, rather stif, feather leaves, like palms. Some of them are “trunkless” because they have a low subterranean stem, so leaves just come beautifully out of the soil.

Plants will become sexually adult after about five to fifteen years from its birth. A cycad will never set any flowers – they are “gymnosperms” and, when the love bells are ringing, female specimens will produce a pineapple-shaped inflorescence containing macrospores. The males will give longer, thinner, usually upright cones, undoubtely “manny-looking”, often spreading some yellow pollen from their microsporophylls.

At this point it is important to remember the new cycads from China – Cold Hardy. If you want to know more about it, click here.

Due to their slow growth, resistance to neglect and low maintenance, they are perfect plants for gardening and also decoration.

Diversity of Cycas in our online store

In Canarius we have a wide offer of cycas, adapted to the tastes and needs of each plant collector. We do not sell weakish seedlings: all our plants usually spend three years in the nursery before going to the shop. Here we mention a few species, but please check in our store what is available.

Cycas hainanensis, a fast growing species originating in the mountain forest of Hainan Island, China.

Cycas panzhihuaensis, from inland China, is one of the cold-hardiest. It has stiff, bluish leaves and can take some hard frost that other species can’t handle.

Cycas tanqingii from Yunnan, China and northern Vietnam. It has a sturdy trunk with long dark green leaves, coated by a fuzzy red velvet.

Cycas micholitzii, with a low short trunk and beautiful bipinnate leaves, that spread and split like a fern.

Are they are expensive?

Well, they are not cheap! They are slow plants, with a very slow germination process and seeds are usually hard-to-find. Some species are faster than others and some seeds are cheaper. As the rest of exotic plants, in our online store you can find varieties adapted to the pocket of each customer. Cycads are hard to kill and will gain size through the rest of their (and your) life. Many of them will live longer than us.

Old specimens can reach high prices of 1000’s of euros, but anybody can start with a young Cycas panzhihuaensis or Cycas hainanensis which is affordable and will grow with time.

Endangered and protected?

Quite a few species of Cycas are in the IUCN red list of threatened plants. Some are exceedingly rare and critically endangered. Only a few are widespread.The genus Cycas as a whole is protected by the CITES international laws, but it is listed in the appendix CITES II, which is a milder level than the CITES I appendix, which includes the highly protected species of Encephalartos and others.

Canarius is FULLY LEGAL! All our plants have been started by us from seeds with official papers and we are registered as CITES producers. If you are not in the European Union, we will prepare a special CITES Export Document when we ship these plants. Yes, buying from us is a help to preserve the species!

Why choose Canarius to buy cycas and cydad? Find out here!

The attraction of showy flowers

Canarius | Thursday April 27th, 2017 |

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Some flowers have the ability to attract animals to carry out the so-called pollination, and those are the showy flowers. Through a simple process, they allow seeds and fruits to be produced, thus becoming exclusive flowers that everyone wants to get.

In many cases, the flowers themselves can emanate their perfume at certain times of the day to attract their dams, which can range from animals like birds and insects to meteorological phenomena like water or wind.

Different colors and shapes

Definitely showy flowers attract attention for its spectacular colors and unusual shapes. In our online shop, we have a wide variety, ideal for decorating gardens and parks.

Crinum Luteolum: Yellow flowered desert Crinum native to dry, hot areas in South Australia. It is closely related to the white-flowered Crinum flaccidum. It is a beautiful compact plant, and it is rare in cultivation.

Koehneria Madagascariensis: A peculiar plant native of Madagascar with pink flowers that symbolize its “blood”. Koehneria belongs to the family Lythraceae and its spectacular color attracts insects for pollination.

The last claim

Amorphophallus titanum has managed to steal the heart of the lovers of rare plants.

This herbaceous plant became considered as the “largest flower in the world” at the University of Bonn (Germany) with a height of 2.74 meters in height and even got Guinness awards.

Original from Indonesia, it is also known as the “corpse flower” because of its particular smelly odor with which it attracts pollinating insects.

In fact, it is this foul odor that attracts pollinating insects to make pollen exchange and reproduce.

Its flowering is almost non-existent, since it only occurs three or four times throughout its life.

In Canarius we are lucky to have the Crinum Lavrani, considered as the most wanted species within the range of showy flowers.

Its white and perfumed flowers fall vertically before opening and they do it from night until noon.

This herbaceous species from the low coastal forests of Madagascar appears mainly in the summer and its size ranges from 70 to 100 centimeters.

The exotic plants we have at Canarius are grown within greenhouses in different areas of Tenerife, where the use of chemicals is kept to a minimum. Some of our nurseries are completely organic, and others are energetically self-sufficient.

In our online store you can find all these types of showy flowers and many more, ¡Visit us!

The unusual world of Asclepiads and Stapeliads

Canarius | Monday April 10th, 2017 |

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Odd and eccentric things always get our attention. This is what happens with the denominated asclepiads, a group of plants with almost 3,000 members, chiefly distributed in warm climates. They are perennial herbs, twining shrubs, lianas or rarely trees but notably also contain a significant number of leafless stem succulents, named stapeliads.

Their flowers are especially eye-catching for their beauty or for their unusual shapes. They often show unusual shapes such as starfish, chinese lanterns or spiders. They are often scented, and a source of nectar for some insects like bees, beetles, butterflies and more. A few species produce stinky flowers and attract flies as pollinators.

Asclepiads used to be a botanical plant family, but in the year 2000, the Asclepiadaceae family ceased to exist and since then asclepiads are considered a subfamily of the larger plant family Apocynaceae. The technical name of this subfamily is Asclepiadoideae.

The genus Hoya includes some of the most popular asclepiads among collectors.Hoyas are tropical climbers and epiphytes with showy umbels of fragrant flowers.

Some are cool-growers, native to high-elevation areas, while some other Hoya love hot tropical conditions.

One of them is Hoya Obovata, one of the Hoyas for Northern climates. Easy blooming and cool-hardy.It has beautiful round, glossy leaves and well shaped , long-lived, white blossoms.

The butterfly plant is the “true” Asclepias

The genus Asclepias (without a D!) gives the name to Asclepiads. Asclepias curassavica is commonly known as the butterfly plant. It is the perfect host plant for the caterpillars of the beautiful monarch butterflies (both the African and the American species).

The 15 cm -long leaves are arranged oppositely on the stems and its small flowers are yellow, red, white or orange. In general terms, species of Asclepias are herbaceous or shrubby, with woody parts and with or without cork and fibrous roots.

They are toxic but they are also known for their medicinal properties in the treatment of dental problems in some states of Mexico. Another similar butterfly-plant that we often offer in our website is Gomphocarpus physocarpus, also called the Balloon Plant because of its swollen fruits. Gomphocarpus is another asclepiad, a bit taller, with white flowers and the same monarch butterflies love their leaves.

Stapeliads are special Asclepiads

Within Asclepiads we find the “florally advanced” Stapeliads (= botanical tribe Stapeliae) with lots of stem succulent genera such as Huernia, Stapelia and Hoodia. They are remarkable for the complex mechanisms they have developed for pollination, similar to the unrelated Orchid family, especially in the grouping of their pollen into pollinia. The fragrance from the flowers is often disgusting and they attract flies as pollinators.

They are native to different parts of Africa, to India and Myanmar. Two stapeliads are native to Europe: one is Caralluma burchardii, from the Canary Islands and one is Caralluma europaea, native to the drier South of Spain. Several species are endemic to the small island of Socotra off the Horn of Africa. The Arabian Peninsula, and most specifically the country of Yemen, contain another concentration of species. Several more are found in the drier parts of Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, Nepal, and Myanmar.

At Canarius, we have a wide variety of Stapeliads: angollumas, huernias, carallumas, and quite a few ceropegias – not really from A to Z – but yes from Ceropegia ampliata to Ceropegia woodii. The local stock of mother plants is continuously increasing, so we will offer more and more species and local forms in the next months and years.

If you want to know more about our asclepiads, stapeliads or asclepias, go to Canarius online store, discover and see all the details.

DARK PURPLE SWEET POTATO – IPOMOEA MOLOKAI

Canarius | Thursday March 30th, 2017 |

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The sweet potato is a food rich in nutrients, low in caloric content and highly beneficial to our health. This herbaceous and perennial plant has great nutritional and medicinal potential, which has turned it into main food in some cultures.

Many of the benefits of this food are vitamins A and C, protein, potassium, magnesium, iron or calcium. Ingredients like vitamin C, is ideal for the growth and repair of body tissues or maintenance of cartilage, bone and teeth.

Sweet potato Ipomoea Molokai

In Canarius we have the sweet potato Ipomoea Molokai, a species of the family Convolvulaceae considered the darkest of all sweet potatoes, is from the Hawaiian island of Molokai.

It has spread rapidly across Europe and Asia and has a combination of brown, black, green, and violet colors that draws attention, despite its unsightly appearance.

In the case of the Ipomoea, it is also rich in flavonoids, has a great antioxidant, and anti-aging capacity. Preferably, we must locate it in a moist, hot, and bright place.

In general, sweet potatoes have benefits for our body like relief of the belly or inflammation in the joints

Nutritional and medicine use

In some cases, it has been described that the fresh leaves of the purple sweet potato help, in the early stages, in the treatment of cervical cancer. The formula, in this case, is its purple pigment, which is also found in other fruits and vegetables such as blueberries or red cabbage.

In relation to its nutritional use, there is a small problem when it comes to cooking the purple sweet potato, that is that it loses many properties. Some of the options to keep all its benefits are to extract the pulp and to take it like soup or infusion.

In other cases, are also a good option as an extra ingredient in the well-known Japanese food, sushi, or in a salad combined with other healthy foods.

In our online store, you can buy the Sweet Potato Ipomoea Molokai and other varieties like Ipomoea Batata Catalina Forastera or Ipomoea Batata Margarita.

All of them contain nutrients necessary for the organism and help improve health thanks to its benefits and we ship them in different formats according to the season and state of growth. You might receive one potted plant, or one tuber, or three rooting cuttings wrapped in sphagnum. ¡Get them!

Canarius, diversity of exotic plants

Canarius | Tuesday March 21st, 2017 |

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Plants and flowers have an important role in our homes decoration. From Canarius we offer a great variety of exotic plants of the Canary Islands, very difficult to buy in garden stores.

In addition, this type of plants are a claim among collectors for their rarity or ornamental qualities (lush foliage, colorful flowers or very unusual forms).

One of the peculiarities is their ability to adapt to temperature and humidity, in addition to purifying the air. However, this “autonomy” is limited, since we, while taking care of them, must consider parameters such as light, irrigation, fertilization or space.

On the other hand, they are ideal for decorating facades and gardens, choosing the right place, pruning, and cleaning or watering them.

“Exotic plants can be used both indoors and outdoors, depending on their characteristics”

THE GENUS CYCAS

At Canarius we offer Europe’s largest selection of the genus Cycas, who are considered “living fossils” whose study has allowed to understand the plants that are already extinct. This genus has about 90 species, mainly in Australia and Indochina, although we can also find them in other areas like Polynesia or Madagascar. No true Cycas occur in Africa and America (but yes other related “cycads” grow there!).

Similar in appearance to palm trees, the genus Cycas is characterized by having a woody stem without branches or little branched and with live foliage near the apex.

One of the most special and attractive is Cycas tanqingii, native to the forests of Yunnan, China and northern Vietnam. Its appearance of short trunk and open crown culminate in elegant bright leaves, with fuzzy reddish petioles.

On the other hand we have Cycas hainanensis, native to China and characteristic for its erect stem, leaves > 150 cm and 16 cm base. Each leaf is composed of 100-280 pairs of lanceolate flakes, with slightly curved margins, making this a spectacular plant.

In our online store, you will find all these species and more of these kinds. Canarius offers a great selection of plants grown outdoors and with the sun of the Canary Islands. Our plants are never collected in the wild – all legally produced and marketed. All species follow legal CITES standards.

If you want to know how cycas grow, click here and find out.

A New Wave of Variegated Exotic Plants

Canarius | Friday February 24th, 2017 |

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Variegation is a phenomenon that naturally occurs in plants as a random event. Variegated plants are visually appealing to people so they have been sought after and reproduced for years in many countries. During the most recent years, variegates have been a success on the international scene, especially with the new cultivars selected in Asia, chiefly in Thailand and Japan. More and more choicy variegates are now reaching Europe and the whole world.

Variegation can show up as stripes or spots or a chequered pattern. Some unusual types of variegation occur when only a part of the leaf is lacking green or when the the whole leaf shows a “frosted” aspect or a spiderweb of white veins. There may be several reasons why variegated plants acquire their originality (chimerism, optical effect, pigment overlap or viral infection). Whatever the reason, this type of plants is very appealing to gardeners.

Different variegated species in different plant families

Almost anything can show variegation. New selections have been developed in bananas to cacti, gingers, palms, aspidistras, ligularias and bromeliads. In Canarius we grow an increasing range of variegated plants to offer.

Some are beautiful, easy, cheap and fast, like the genus Acalypha, that counts in the archipelago with a perfect climate for its growth. Acalypha ‘Hoffmanni’ or Acalypha ‘Macrophylla’ are some of these showy colourful selections, originated in the Pacific islands.

Picture: Acalypha “Hoffanni” / Acalypha “Macrophylla”

At the other extreme we find variegated palms, that are slow to grow and reproduce. The most sought after are the Japanese selections of Rhapis: easy but slow palms, that grow well indoors as house plants. The most valuable variegated Rhapis palms are sold in Japan for 1000’s of Euros as rare bonsai palms! We do grow some Japanese clones here in the Canary Islands!

Variegated Succulents

Agaves, Cacti, Mesembs, Crassulas, Sansevierias and almost all groups of succulents now contain some variegated members. Some variegated succulents grow with good strength, because their white parts are just more storage tissue for the dry season. Agaves are possibly the most beautiful of all, because of their star-shaped symmetry, just like bromeliads. Dwarf, variegated agaves are true gems. Also the genus Hoya deserves a mention. These semi-succulent vines produce waxy, glossy leaves and scented, showy flowers. They tolerate low-light and make good indoor plants.

Pictures: Agave ‘Shoji-Rajin’ and Hoya australis ‘Lisa’

The Giants: Variegated Bananas and Aroids

The largest variegated leaves (after some exceptional palms!) are produced by Musa (bananas) and by the giant aroids of the genera Alocasia and Colocasia. These plants produce enormous leaves quickly, so they are helpful to enhance the tropical-looking garden in cold climates with short summers. Some of them are also edible!

Pictures: These two plants will also produce edible bananas and edible taro corms: Colocasia esculenta ‘Ele Paio Kea’, and Musa x ‘Cavendish ‘Supreme’.

The most loved : Variegated Large Bromeliads

Striped bromeliads are almost hypnotical. Their rosettes occur in all types of shapes and sizes, and the larger the species, the deeper the “hypnosis”! One of the boldest is Aechmea blanchetiana ‘Orange Variegated”, sought after for its exclusivity. Canarius only makes a few of these each year. Striped orange-blanchetianas make a rainbow of colour changing through the seasons.

And, what produces this colour? Just a lower production of the chlorophyll pigment will allow the back-colour of orange, yellow and green to turn into shades of white, pink, and purple: originality and beauty in a single plant.

Are Variegates Difficult and Expensive?

Not all of them! Most variegated plants are just a bit slower than their green counterparts, because they have less chlorophyll. Nevertheless, some variegates are more finicky. Some of them burn their tips or white parts in adverse conditions (dry, wind, cold, salt, etc.) so it is better to keep them a bit more sheltered than the other plants that you grow.

But, yes! Some variegated selections are doubtlessly more expensive. Not necessarily because they are slow or difficult, but chiefly because they are hard to reproduce, for these two reasons:

Most variegated plants do not grow true from seed. Most or all their seedlings will be green, so they need to be reproduced by cutting or other similar ways.
Some variegates give too many fully-green or fully-white shoots and only a few branches with the right proportion of green and white.

An example of slowness and patience is Aspidistra ‘Asahi’: This is a variegated for connoisseurs. Its new leaves are all green but the following year their upper part turns deep white. So it takes some time to develop the desired effect. Also the unusual Farfugium ‘Kaimon Dake’ takes some time to develop its white “frosted” leaves.

Pictures: Some different, slower Japanese variegates: Aspidistra ‘Asahi’ and Farfugium ‘Kaimon Dake’

What do we grow and what do we do ?

Since 2004, we imported variegated plants from all parts of the world, with the goal of building up our stock of mother plants. We also search for new variegations appearing randomly from green plants, both in our nursery and in other nurseries of the Canary Islands.

Our team is working on more and more new variegates for the future, from fruit trees to gingers and succulents. Canarius grows all here in Tenerife, with quality and respect for the ecosystem.