Acorus gramineus 'Variegatus'

Perennial herbaceous plant, evergreen, magnificent variegated foliage, white and green, gives light to shady places, enhanced in pots, useful for giving a touch of color and structure to flowerbeds. Also suitable for growing indoors or on the veranda.

This perennial is adaptable to a wide variety of conditions, from sun to partial shade to shade. Being evergreen, it is interesting for creating movement and soul all year round in the garden, in borders as well as in pots and bowls, where it remains unchanged in every season.
Suitable as a side dish to other sun plants that love humidity, such as herbaceous hibiscus, mimulus, lysimachia, persicaria... and undergrowth plants, such as ferns, hellebores, epimedium, geranium, liriope, carex, hosta.

Classificazione

Nome comune: Japanese sweet flag, Japanese rush, grassy-leaved sweet flag, and grass-leaf sweet flag
Genere e specie: Acorus gramineus
Cultivar: 'Variegatus'
Famiglia: Acoraceae.

Caratteristiche

Description of flowers: Small spadices (spikes), which then ripen into small fleshy berries.
Flower color: Greenish-yellow.
Flowering period: Spring.
Leaves: Thin, ribbon-like, 0.5 cm wide, streaked longitudinally with white and green.
Fragrance: The foliage and rhizomes smell of anise and lemon.
Dimensions: Height 30 cm, expands indefinitely. Naturalize slowly by lengthening the rhizomes.

Cultivation

Exposure: Full sun, partial shade, shade.
Soil: Any, even poor.
Irrigation: It loves humidity which must not be lacking especially in the sun. Contrary to what is commonly believed and read, it does not grow so luxuriantly instead always immersed in water or marshy soil.
Frost resistance: USDA 5

Care

Pruning: It does not require pruning, periodically remove the older leaves that are naturally abandoned by the plant or those damaged by perennial snow or particularly intense frost. You can also cut just the tops, if dried, with scissors.
Propagation: It propagates by dividing the tufts in autumn or spring.

Notes of interest

Use in cooking: The root contains vitamins, minerals and other antioxidants, it is consumed fresh or cooked. Before eating it, it is essential to peel it, slice it finely and leave it immersed, changing the water several times; without this procedure and consumed in excess it can be toxic.
Herbal properties: The whole plant provides benefits such as antispasmodic, digestive, diaphoretic, diuretic, expectorant, sedative, stimulant, tonic.
Awards: “Award of Garden Merit” (AGM) from the Royal Horticultural Society.