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Zamioculcas zamiifolia, popular as the ZZ plant. It is versatile in nature. It is the perfect beginner plant as it is tolerant and doesn’t demand too much from its owner. The ZZ plant has wide, thick, dark green leaves; it is attractive and accepts low-light conditions The wax-like, smooth texture of the leaves reflects sunlight and brightens rooms. It typically grows slowly to 2-4 inches in height, and 3ft wide indoors; its leaves or stems can be used for ZZ plant propagation. Zamioculcas zamiifolia (ZZ) is a native of drought prone terrestrial regions of East Africa aroid belongs to the Family Araceae and it has CAM cycle. ZZ has weak CAM that up regulated in response to water stress. CAM assists survival of Z. zamiifolia by reducing water loss and maintaining carbon gain during seasonal droughts characteristics of its natural habitat. (Holtum, et. al. 2007). ZZ is a rhizome and leaf succulent plant which store major part of water in. It is a indoor plant and a great source of oxygen; they positively influence and improve the overall air quality in your home and boost your productivity. Let us take a closer look at the ZZ plant benefits at home and how you can make it a part of your cosy abode. The hustle and bustle of our daily lives may sometimes take us too far away from nature; having indoor plant at home ensures that when you return to this space after a long and eventful day, you feel relaxed and refreshed; it uplifts your mood and calms your mind. There are numerous ZZ plant benefits, and it is safe to say that your lifeless showpieces can now be replaced with the ZZ plant. 

To bring green indoors, people are choosing indoor plants, such Interior Landscape Plants for indoor air pollution abatement, the leaves, roots, soil, and associated microorganisms of plants have been evaluated as a possible means of reducing indoor air pollutants. Additionally, a novel approach of using plant systems for removing high concentrations of indoor air pollutants such as cigarette smoke, organic solvents, and possibly radon has been designed from this work. This air filter design combines plants with an activated carbon filter and makes your surroundings feel more peaceful, positive and creative. ZZ plant is an easy-to-maintain indoor plant and hence a popular choice among buyers. It bears small unisexual flowers. Spadices usually contain male flowers on the upper portion and female flowers on the lower portion, with a short constricted zone in between bearing sterile flowers.

The previous studied carried out about various aspects of ZZ by Schott. (1856) Synopsis Aroidearum;Jones. (1957), Engler. (1920); French  and  Tomlinson. (1981); Vienna.et al. (1983) Comparison of pour-through and saturated pine bark extract N, P, K, and pH levels Vascular patterns in stems of Araceae: Subfamily Pothoideae;Grayum.  (1985) Evolutionary and ecological significance of starch storage in pollen of the Araceae;Grayum, (1990) Evolution and phylogeny of the Araceae..

Hartmann,et al.(1990) Plant propagation;Raven and  Axelrod. (1974) Angiosperm biogeography and past continent; Griffiths. (1994) Index of garden plants; Huxley (1994) Chromosome numbers and phylogenetic relationships in theAraceae; Bogner and  Boyce. (1997) Englewood Cliffs. et al. (2001) Palnology of the perigoni-ate Aroideae: Zamioculcas,Gonatopus, and Stylochaeton (Araceae); Chen. and  Henny. (2003) ZZ: A unique ornamental foliage plant; Holtum,et al. (2007) Crassulacean Acid Metabolism the ZZ Plant, Zamioculeas zamiifolia (Arsceae); Lopez,et al. (2009) Propagation and production of Zamioculcas zamiifolia; Bareja. (2010) The what, when, and why of using plant cuttings in vegetative growth;Hartmann, et al.( 2011). Plant propagation: principles and practices; Lloyster;(2023). ZZ plant or Zamioculcas zamiifolia. 

Methods and Observation: 

Plants were purchased from the local nursery and studied various aspects of ZZ plants. The plants are black and green (Fig.1,2,3), green grow fast than black. Propagation takes place by vegetative divisions of Rhizomes (tubers), leaf Rachis, leaflets. Propagation through division is accomplished by separating individual rhizomes, planting. Similar size in the containers, leaf petiole, and rachis cutting and leaflets with rachis piece where leaflet attached are planted in coarse sandy soil or in prepared media. Media contains 40% Sphagnum peat, 20%, perlite, 20% vermiculite, coir, vermicompost, fungicide, neem cake combinations by volume. 1 to 5 Rhizomes per container are planted, depending on size of rhizomes and container. Leaflets are inserted and rooted in media in pro -tray or seedling -tray or 3" pots for rooting, kept and shaded green house and enclosed in polythene tents with mist (Hartmann et al, 1990). Temperature should be 25°C to 35°C and relative humidity 60 to 80%

A small rhizome (tuber) will become visible in another 2 weeks: 1 week later roots will appear in the tuber. One month after rhizome is visible, a petiole bearing alternate pinnate leaflets will emerge out from the container substrate (Fig .4,5). Petiole can be cut to about 10 cm in length and rooted in 10 or 15 cm diameter container at three - five petioles per container respectively. However, petiole cuttings do not offer any advantage over leaf cuttings as they take more time to form callii and rhizomes. This is because rhizome will be produced only after the entire cutting surface of the petiole has been covered by callus tissue, which takes more than a month depending on the diameter of petiole.

ZZ is mainly propagated vegetatively through rhizome division or leaf and petiole cuttings. Although botanically called rhizomes, the form and shape of the rhizomes resemble tubers. Propagation through division is accomplished by separating individual rhizomes, sorting them based on size and planting the similar-sized rhizomes into containers filled with a substrate. Suitable substrates are 60% sphagnum peat, 20% perlite, and 20% vermiculite by volume, or 55% sphagnum peat, 25% pine bark, and 20% perlite. One to five rhizomes per container are planted depending on rhizome and container sizes. To propagate from leaf cuttings, leafl ets are inserted singly in medium filled cavities of plastic trays that have either 50 or 72 cells. Leaflets can also be rooted in 10-cm-diameter containers filled with aforementioned substrates at four leaflets per container. Leaflets may also be cut into several pieces and propagated by placing the wounded side into the substrate. The cavity trays or containers are placed on benches in a shaded greenhouse and enclosed in polyethylene tents with a mist as described by Hartmann et al. (1990) .The shade house temperatures should be maintained at 25 to 35^oC, relative humidity from 60% to 100%. Callus will form around the main vein in 2 weeks after sticking. A small rhizome (tuber) will become visible in another 2 weeks; 1 week later, roots will appear in the tuber. One month after the rhizome is visible, a petiole bearing alternate pinnate leaflets will emerge from the container substrate (Fig. 3). Rooting hormone application is not necessary in ZZ propagation. Petioles can be cut to about 10cm in length and rooted in 10- or 15-cm-diameter container at three or five petioles per container, respectively. However, petiole cuttings do not offer any advantage over leaf cuttings as they take more time to form callii and rhizomes.

 

ZZ can be produced in 10 to25 cm (3.9 to 9.8 inches) diameter, well-drained containers. However, ZZ is a slow-growing plant even under favorable production conditions. Thus, the number and size of rhizomes in relation to container sizes becomes important in determining how much time is needed to produce marketable plants. We emphasize rhizomes here because leaf-cutting generated plants are based on the rhizomes. The larger the rhizome, the more shoots will be produced. In general, marketable plants could be produced in 8 to 12 months after rhizomes are planted in corresponding containers as recommended in Table 1. Containers may stay fairly close at the beginning of planting but should be placed 10, 20,30, 40 cm.

Light: ZZ plant is adaptable to the diffused light levels, low intensity.

Temperature and Relative Humidity: ZZ plant can grow at a temperature range of 15 to 35^oC, but optimum growth takes place with air temperatures between 18 and 32^oC and media temperatures 20 and 28^oC. Relative humidity in shaded production greenhouses should range from 50% to 100%. During winter, temperatures should not be lower than 10^oC because plant growth will stop and chilling injury may occur.

Water and Fertilizer: Although ZZ is exceptionally drought-tolerant, the media should remain moist (50% to 80%) during production. If shaded greenhouse temperatures range from 15 to 20^oC during the winter, the substrate should be slightly dry before watering. Either drip or sub irrigation is preferred as overhead irrigation leaves water residues on glossy leaflets that affect plant’s appearance. ZZ plants do not have high nutrient requirements. When water-soluble fertilizers with micronutrients are used, we recommend nitrogen (N) at 200 mg·L–1 (ppm) for drip irrigated plants weekly and 100 to 150 mg·L–1 for sub-irrigated plants.

Production Strategies: Due to its slow-growing nature, the strategy for ZZ production typically has one group of growers specializing in propagation and the other group focusing on finished plant production. Some growers prefer to conduct both operations. Propagation involves rooting cuttings, rhizome production, and marketing rhizomes based on size. Growers interested in finished plants would plant different sizes of rhizomes in appropriate containers as suggested (Table. 1), produce finished plants, and market them to interiors capers.

Container size(inches)	Rhizome size cm(L x W)	Rhizome Wight(gm)	Rhizomes per container	Leaf length(cm)	Leaflet size cm (LxW)
8	1.5 x 2 2.0 x 2	4-5	3-5	4-6	1.8-3.2 1.9-3.5
10	2.0 x 2.5 2.0 x 3	5-6	4-5	8-16	2.2-4 2.4-3.8
12	2.0 x 3.5 3.0 x 3.5	10-16	5-6	10-22	2.8-4 3.2-8
18	4.0 x 5 3.0 x 5	20-25	4-5	16-27	4.3-12 3.8-10

Air Purification: Zamioculcas zamiifolia, eliminate airborne toxins such as toluene, xylene, and benzene that are present in the air and can absorb CO₂ from the air.  People put this plant inside their bedrooms and where in the house spends more time with their kids for better surroundings and air purification. Your room environment becomes healthy and good for living. Aside from adding some elegance to our house, it gives us the benefit of inhaling purified air, does not sound amazing.

Problems of ZZ Plant: The common problems were discussed and cited the literature about grow and care, propagation of ZZ plants in the gardens and their management potential. 

1. Bogner, and P.C. Boyce. (1997). The genera of Araceae. Royal Bot. Garden,Kew.

2. Engler, A. (1920). Araceae-Pars generalis et index familiae generalis. In: A. Engler (ed.). Das Pfl anzenreich. 74 (IV. 23A):1–71.

3. Englewood Cliffs, N.J. Hesse, M., J. Bogner, H. Halbritter, and M. Weber. (2001). Palnology of the perigoni-ate Aroideae: Zamioculcas,Gonatopus, and Stylochaeton (Araceae). Grana 40:26–34.

4. French, J.C. and P.B. Tomlinson. (1981). Vascular patterns in stems of Araceae: Subfamily Pothoideae. Amer. J. Bot. 68:713–729.

5. Grayum, M.H. (1985). Evolutionary and ecological significance of starch storage in pollen of the Araceae. Amer. J. Bot. 72:1565–1577.

6. Grayum, M.H. (1990). Evolution and phylogeny of the Araceae. Ann. Mo. Bot. Gard. 77:628–697.

7. Griffi ths, M. (1994). Index of garden plants. Timber Press, Portland, Ore.

8. Hartmann, H.T., Kester, D.E, and Davies, F.T.(1990). Plant propagation: Principles and practices.5thed. Prentice Hall.

9. Holtum, J.A.M, Winter, K., Weeks, .M.K. and Sexton, T.R. (2007). Crassulacean Acid Meta boism.In the ZZ Plant, Zamioculeas zamiifolia (Arsceae).American J. of botany 94(10):160-1676.
10. Huxley, A. (1994). The new royal horti-cultural society dictionary of gardening. Macmillan, London.
11. Jones, G.E. (1957). Chromosome numbers and phylogenetic relationships in the Araceae. PhDdiss., Univ. Va., Charlottesville.
12. Lloyster,M.(2023).ZZ plant or Zamioculcas zamiifolia. House plant expert. Online.

13. Ramachandran, K. (1978). Cytological studies on south Indian Araceae. Cytologia 43: 289–303.
14. Raven, P.H. and D.I. Axelrod. (1974). Angiosperm biogeography and past continental movements. Ann. Mo. Bot. Gard. 61:539–673.
15. Schott, H.W. (1856). Synopsis Aroidearum. Typis congregationis mechitharisticae, Vienna.Yeager, T.H., R.D. Wright, and S.J. Donohue. 1983. Comparison of pour-through and saturated pine bark extract N, P, K, and pH levels. J. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. 108:112–114.
16. Bareja, B.G. (2010). The what, when, and why of using plant cuttings in vegetative growth. Crops Review. 20 March 2016.
17. Chen, J., and R.J. Henny. (2003). ZZ: A unique ornamental foliage plant. HorTechnology. 13(3):458-462.
18. Donnelly, D. The principles and techniques of propagation by cuttings, p. 84-100. In: Plant propagation. PLNT-310 (Winter). McGill University, CAN.
19. Hartmann, H.T., D.E. Kester, F.T. Jr Davies, and R.L. Geneve. (2011). Plant propagation: principles and practices. 8th Ed. Prentice-Hall, Inc, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.
20. Lopez, R.G., M.G. Blanchard, and E.S. Runkle. (2009). Propagation and production of Zamioculcas zamiifolia. Acta Hort. 813:559-564