Murraya
Murraya (lat. Murraya) is a beautiful, unpretentious plant belonging to the Rutaceae family.
Description
Murraya is a small evergreen shrub endowed with fancy, leathery, oval-shaped leaves. In the wild, its height can reach three meters. As for indoor Murraya, its height almost never exceeds a meter or one and a half meters.
The white fragrant flowers of this spectacular beauty are very similar to the flowers of white lilac. Also, the plant produces many oval red berries, which have a sweetish taste and external resemblance to hawthorn fruits. These berries can take up to four months to ripen. And the uniqueness of Murraya lies in the fact that buds can bloom on it and berries can form at the same time.
Where does it grow
The homeland of Murraya is considered to be Southeast and South Asia — this plant is quite often found in Asia, India, as well as in tropical forests and on a number of Pacific islands.
Usage
Murraya leaves are widely used in cosmetology, medicine and cooking, and its jasmine-smelling flowers have found their way into aromatherapy — inhaling their enchanting aroma not only helps to get a powerful boost of energy, but also contributes to the development of mental abilities, as well as normalization of sleep and restoration of the cardiovascular system.
As for Murraya berries, they boast excellent medicinal properties: the ability to lower blood sugar, tone the body, relieve headaches and stabilize blood pressure. However, in folk medicine not only berries are used, but also flowers, stems, leaves and roots.
And only Murraya paniculata is successfully grown as an indoor crop.
Growing and care
Murraya is quite unpretentious in care, however, like many other indoor plants. During the winter season, it is recommended to keep it at a temperature of fifteen to eighteen degrees, carefully ensuring that the thermometer does not fall below twelve degrees. And in summer, you can safely take this beautiful plant out onto the balcony or into the garden.
Despite the fact that Murraya is extremely light-loving, it is still recommended to shade it a little during the hottest summer hours. It is best to place it on south-eastern or eastern windows.
Murraya requires generous watering in the spring and summer, then gradually reduce it starting in the fall. In winter, watering should be very moderate, allowing the soil to dry out. Murraya should be watered with soft water. Settled or rainwater is best, but boiled or filtered water is also acceptable. Regular misting is also beneficial for this plant. Although it boasts high tolerance for dry air, it is still beneficial to mist in the summer and winter when central heating is active.
Starting in the spring, murraya should be fed twice a month with a complex fertilizer specifically designed for indoor plants.
When repotting murraya, it is best to use a soil mixture consisting of equal parts sand, humus, peat, leaf mold, and turf. A store-bought universal bio-soil is also suitable for these purposes. Young plants should be repotted annually, while four- or five-year-old specimens can be repotted every other year.
Murraya can be propagated by both cuttings and seeds. If the former method is chosen, the cuttings should be rooted under a glass container and with the use of phytohormones (i. e., growth stimulants).
