''Pericallis'' × ''hybrida'', known as cineraria, florist's cineraria or common ragwort is a

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. They include all forbs (flowering plants without a woody stem), grasses and grass-like plants, a vast majority of ...

in the family

Asteraceae The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae ...

. It originated as a

hybrid Hybrid may refer to: Science * Hybrid (biology), an offspring resulting from cross-breeding ** Hybrid grape, grape varieties produced by cross-breeding two ''Vitis'' species ** Hybridity, the property of a hybrid plant which is a union of two diff ...

between '' Pericallis cruenta'' and '' P. lanata'', both natives of the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Mo ...

. The hybrid was first developed in the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English ...

royal gardens in 1777. It was originally known as ''Cineraria'' × ''hybrida'', but the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...

Cineraria ''Cineraria'' is a genus of flowering plants in the sunflower family, native primarily to southern Africa with a few species farther north. The genus includes herbaceous plants and small subshrubs. In the past, the genus was commonly viewed ...

'' is now restricted to a group of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...

n species, with the Canary Island species being transferred to the genus '' Pericallis''; some botanists also treat it in a broad view of the large and widespread genus ''Senecio''. Some varieties are sold under the trade name Senetti.

Cultivation and uses

Florist's cinerarias can be raised freely from

seed A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiosper ...

s. For spring flowering the seeds are sown in mid spring in well-drained pots or pans, in

soil Soil, also commonly referred to as earth or dirt, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, liquids, and organisms that together support life. Some scientific definitions distinguish ''dirt'' from ''soil'' by restricting the former ...

of three parts

loam Loam (in geology and soil science) is soil composed mostly of sand ( particle size > ), silt (particle size > ), and a smaller amount of clay (particle size < ). By weight, its mineral composition is about 40–40–20% concentration of sand–si ...

to two parts leaf mould, with one-sixth

sand Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a soil texture, textur ...

; cover the seed thinly with fine soil, and press the surface firm. When the seedlings are large enough to handle, prick them out in pans or pots of similar soil, and when more advanced pot them singly in 10 cm pots, using soil a trifle less sandy. They should be grown in shallow frames facing the north. If so situated that the sun shines upon the plants in the middle of the day, they must be slightly shaded; give plenty of air, and never allow them to get dry. When well established with roots, shift them into 15 cm pots, which should be liberally supplied with manure water as they get filled with roots. In winter remove to a pit or house, where a little heat can be supplied whenever there is a risk of their getting frozen. They should stand on a moist bottom, but must not be subjected to cold draughts. When the flowering stems appear, give manure water at every alternate watering. Seeds sown in early spring, and grown on in this way, will be in flower by Christmas if kept in a temperature of from 5° to 7 °C at night, with a little more warmth in the day. Those sown in April and May will follow them during the early spring months, the latter set of plants being subjected to a temperature of 4° to 5 °C during the night. If grown much warmer than this, the Cineraria maggot may damage the leaves, tunnelling its way between the upper and lower surfaces and making whitish irregular markings all over. Such affected leaves must be picked off and burned.

Aphid Aphids are small sap-sucking insects and members of the superfamily Aphidoidea. Common names include greenfly and blackfly, although individuals within a species can vary widely in color. The group includes the fluffy white woolly aphids. A ...

s are also a major pest.

References

External links

Florist's Cineraria information
from

Virginia Tech Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and informally VT, or VPI) is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It also ...

Florist's Cineraria at Botany
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pericallis hybrida hybrida Hybrid plants