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Identifying a Houseplant? (Unknown)

Identifying a Houseplant - multi stemmed plant with medium green leavesI'm a houseplant aficionado, for the most part. I have many houseplants, and I'm always welcoming new green buddies into my home. My friend knows this and gave me this little guy, but I don't know what he is, and worry I'm not caring for him properly!

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The plant is very young. It has slightly waxy (but not stiff), slightly glossy, and just barely serrated leaves (see close-up in pictures), so slight you almost can't see it. At first, I thought it was a baby ficus, but the serrations and the more elongated, less round shape of the leaf lead me to believe otherwise. It looks like it might be some sort of very young citrus tree, like a lemon, but the growth habit looks to be more shrublike, less treelike.

Any guesses? All I know is it is a "houseplant", meaning it will have to live indoors here in zone 5, except in the summer if I put it out to catch some extra rays (if they like that, which I don't even know yet!).
Thank you!

Identifying a Houseplant
 
Identifying a Houseplant
 
Identifying a Houseplant
 
Identifying a Houseplant
 

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Gold Post Medal for All Time! 677 Posts
December 2, 20180 found this helpful

It could be a schefflera. It is easy to care for. Water it weekly and expose it to light.

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December 18, 20180 found this helpful

Hi Judy,
I'm pretty certain it's not a schefflera, or at least not the traditional "dwarf umbrella tree" variety, as I've got two of them (one propagated from a cutting of the first) and they tend to drink less and grow faster, at least in my house. I've had to prune my big guy back about 2 feet annually the past 3 years. He keeps scraping the ceiling by the end of every summer and puts out new growth constantly, year round, with no fertilizer and water maybe every 2 weeks?

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If I go more often than that, he gets sad and starts yellowing and going bald!
That said, this little guy doesn't have any palmate leaves, which despite its age, should already be the case from what I've seen. The leaves are also slightly serrated, and while I've seen many different varieties of schefflera, I've never seen one without palmate leaves. Still, I'll look up on it and see if there's a schefflera flavor I might have missed. Thank you! :-)

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Bronze Feedback Medal for All Time! 196 Feedbacks
December 4, 20180 found this helpful

It is very pretty, but I am drawing a total blank. I even did a reverse image search on the leaf. It has a tropical vibe to it or something in the rubber tree family, but its name is elusive to me today. Tomorrow it may pop right into my brain (in which case I will post back as things often come to me at 4:00 am and with the interest I can post and not bother anyone).

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I love plants too and like you, I always need to know their names and best care guides.

You may want to try your local home extension office and see what they say. Here is a finder, just put in your zip:

pickyourown.org/countyextensionagentoffices.htm

Ours is quite helpful!!

Post back what you learn.

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December 19, 20180 found this helpful

Hello, Pghgirl40,
I have looked up my extension office and may have to take a trip out if I get the time. This will probably be a while, but I'll continue my search!
I, too, did a reverse image search on the leaf, and the closest I came was indeed a coffee or lemon/citrus of some sort, like Catherine said. Though if it is, she is probably also right in saying that it is a pseudo-shrub created by tossing a handful of seeds in soil and repotting the resulting clump of stems.

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Ehhhh... The quest resumes.
Thank you for your help!

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Bronze Feedback Medal for All Time! 131 Feedbacks
December 12, 20180 found this helpful

Hi ! I think if it was a citrus, it is old enough for its feet to have already turned to wood and a brown colour. Regardless of the type of plant, it looks like a "fake" bush. Like when you put a lot of citrus seeds in a pot, you get a kind of shrub because of all the seeds that have germinated together but in the wild, a citrus tree is born from a single seed and develops a single trunk. Stores also sell "fake" coffee bushes born from many seeds. If the plant is very young, the leaves may not have their actual shape yet, as an older coffee tree would have wavy leaves, but when it is very young, the leaves are not yet. The bushes rarely start with a lot of shoots coming out of the ground.

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It is usually a single foot that later divides into several branches right from the very foot. This is why it is difficult to know which plant it is. It could also be a "fake" bush of cacao trees. Examining the type of leaves and checking whether they are opposite or alternated would be a way, at least, of eliminating some "candidates" because this is one of the characteristics of a plant that can not be falsified. You could also gently brush the soil to find out if the many shoots come from seeds or a cutting if they come from seeds you could still find the rest of the two parts of the seed on each shoot if the plant is not too old.

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December 18, 20180 found this helpful

Hi Catherine,
I am inclined to agree with you on the "fake" bush hypothesis, and the stems themselves do have a gray-brown woody texture to them already. Because of this, I'm afraid that they may be growing so close together that as this guy matures, I might have to pluck or split as needed. I hope I don't hurt him.

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I have potted him up since receiving him. He came in a very small plastic pot that had him thirsty every 2 to 3 days or so. When I loosened his root ball, the roots seemed well-established, but not overly entangled, as if I could have separated them then. I'm wondering if maybe I should have? I suppose time will tell. He's still happy and chugging away, whatever he is. Seems to like my kitchen window (due east, low tree obstruction from outdoors, bright morning light).

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