Red-flowering Pinellia/Three-leaved Pinellia (Pinellia ternata `Atropurpurea`)

Ready for some dark magic in your shade garden or on your balcony? The Pinellia ternata 'Atropurpurea' is an absolute insider tip for plant lovers seeking something extraordinary. This exceptional rarity not only boasts a spectacular, deep dark flower color, but also fascinates with its ingenious ability for self-propagation. An exotic gem that is guaranteed to turn heads – and is wonderfully easy to care for and absolutely winter-hardy!

Scope of delivery: Each 7cm pot with several young tubers. Currently still in dormancy.

Growth & Appearance

• Lifespan: Perennial, tuber-forming and winter-hardy plant.

• Growth height: Remains nicely compact at about 15 to 30 cm.

• Habit: Graceful growth. The fresh green leaves are characteristically trifoliate (hence the name "ternata") and form a beautiful, luminous contrast to the dark flower.

• Flower: From May to July, it displays the typical arum-like flower, but with a spectacular twist: the 'Atropurpurea' variety impresses with a deep burgundy to almost black spathe, which encloses a spadix. The absolute highlight is the delicate, whip-like appendage of the spadix, which protrudes far from the dark flower like a fine thread!

Origin

Its original home is East Asia (China, Japan, Korea). There, the green wild type primarily grows at forest edges, in bushes, and on meadows. The 'Atropurpurea' is a particularly sought-after, dark-colored form of this species, especially among collectors.

Ingredients (IMPORTANT WARNING)

Like almost all arum plants, the plant contains sharp calcium oxalate crystals in all its parts (especially in the tuber). The plant is poisonous when raw and strongly irritates mucous membranes. Consumption or self-medication is absolutely taboo!

Use

• In the garden: A fantastic and rare ornamental plant for shady beds, woodland edges, or for container cultivation. Due to its dark flower, it's perfect for collectors of exotic and unusual aroids (arum plants).

• In medicine (TCM): In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the tuber, known as "Ban Xia", is one of the most important medicinal plants. There, it is extensively pre-treated with ginger and alum to neutralize its toxicity, and then used as a strong remedy for nausea, cough, and phlegm.

History

The Chinese name "Ban Xia" translates to "Half Summer" or "Mid-Summer". It refers to the tradition in its Asian homeland where the tubers are harvested precisely in mid-summer (around the summer solstice) because they then have the highest concentration of active ingredients.

Curiosities (The plant that clones itself!)

The Pinellia has developed an ingenious survival trick: it forms tiny, spherical bulbils on the leaf stalks (often exactly where the three leaflets divide). As soon as the leaf withers and falls to the ground in autumn, entirely new, independent plants grow from these tiny tubers in the following spring.

Location, Care & Other Important Things

• Location: Partial shade to shade. No direct midday sun.

• Soil: Humus-rich, loose, and well-draining (waterlogging causes the tuber to rot).

• Care & Wintering: Completely undemanding. In autumn, the plant completely retracts its leaves and overwinters as an invisible tuber in the soil. It is well winter-hardy in our latitudes.

Tip: Mark the spot in the bed so you don't accidentally dig up the small tuber during autumn gardening!

• Cultivation in a pot on a balcony or terrace is very possible.

Click here for the pure green wild type...