Schefflera digitata--New Zealand Schefflera

[fastfeat]

This is a 35'/12m tree with interesting foliage. I haven't seen it elsewhere in SoCal.

[Juan-Carlos]

Very neat foliage on this one!

-Jc

Miami, Florida

[Eric in Orlando]

ken, thats a nice species. Looks similar to S. heptaphylla.

Did you get to Lake Brantley Nursery when you were here?

[fastfeat]

Eric--

I didn't make it out to Lake Brantley before I left Winter Park, unfortunately...

Fullerton also has S. heptaphylla/octophylla growing as well, though I could not get much of a shot with the crowded conditions and low light in the beds. No seed on either species currently, though I believe I've seen fruit on S. digitata before. Not sure how it might grow in FL, coming from NZ though.

[Jerry@TreeZoo]

We had something similar looking to this in the Arboretum before Wilma. It was only a few feet tall. I never knew the specific name but I have seen it growing elswhere in SoFla, I think as an interiorscape plant. Do you know if that would be dgitata, heptaphylla or octophylla?

Jerry

[fastfeat]

We had something similar looking to this in the Arboretum before Wilma. It was only a few feet tall. I never knew the specific name but I have seen it growing elswhere in SoFla, I think as an interiorscape plant. Do you know if that would be dgitata, heptaphylla or octophylla?

Jerry

Jerry--

My guess would be S. heptaphylla (S. octophylla). There are some fairly young ones growing at Broward extension office in Davie.

I suspect S. digitata would prefer cooler climates, coming from New Zealand. But then again, plants don't read books...

[Jerry@TreeZoo]

Our dearly departed Schefflera had long pointy leaflets with deep incisions, not serrations. These, I believe, were only juvenile leaves as they started to get shorter as the plant grew. Alas, it didn't last long enough to propagate or grow to full size.

Geraldo

[fastfeat]

Our dearly departed Schefflera had long pointy leaflets with deep incisions, not serrations. These, I believe, were only juvenile leaves as they started to get shorter as the plant grew. Alas, it didn't last long enough to propagate or grow to full size.

Geraldo

Maybe S. elegantissima, formerly Dizygotheca. Juvenile leaves look like purplish-Cannabis, or so I've been told...

http://images.google.com/images?um=1&h...a+elegantissima

[Jerry@TreeZoo]

Schefflera elegantisima indeed sir! You cut me!

Anyway, the closest I can find doing a google search is S. taiwaniana. It seems to be a pretty variable species.

Jerry

[Jerry@TreeZoo]

Jerry

[fastfeat]

Schefflera elegantisima indeed sir! You cut me!

Anyway, the closest I can find doing a google search is S. taiwaniana. It seems to be a pretty variable species.

Jerry

Jerry--

That S. taiwaniana looks a little different than S. elegantissima. I like it!!

[Eric in Orlando]

There is a Scheff in the FL trade called "Nova". It has looks similar to the S. taiwaniana.

[Jerry@TreeZoo]

Eric,

You got it!

Jerry

[Eric in Orlando]

The 1st photo is here at Leu Gardens. The 2nd is a nice specimen at Flamingo Gardens. They are a fairly slow growing plant. Ours is still only about 6ft and has been in the ground over 5 years. I sent photos to Marc frank at U of FL for ID and this was what he sent me about this plant;

Hi Eric,

I apologize for the delay in responding to your inquiry. It has taken me several days to track down the relevant resources...

Schefflera identification can be challenging. The latest estimates are that there are 900 species of Schefflera, distributed in both the Old World and New World tropics, making it the largest genus in the Araliaceae (Aralia/Ginseng Family).

Fortunately, there don't seem to be nearly as many species of Schefflera in cultivation, so that narrows down our possibilities somewhat.

'Nova' shows some affinities to the adult form of S. elegantissima. S. elegantissima is commonly cultivated, but has very distinct juvenile and adult leaf forms, and the adult form is rarely observed in cultivation. The picture at the following link shows both juvenile and adult foliage:

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=htt...6lr%3D%26sa%3DG

As you can see the lobing of the leaves in the adult form is not nearly as pronounced as in 'Nova'. We only have a single flowering herbarium specimen of S. elegantissima, but the inflorescence is more similar to the one shown in your picture.

S. kerchoveiana is said to be similar to S. elegantissima, but we do not have any herbarium specimens of this species, and I have been unable to find any pictures of it online or in our library. The only published discussion I am finding for S. kerchoveiana (Lowery, Miller, and Frodin 1989, Baileya 23(1): 9-10), says that it has distinct juvenile and adult leaf forms, with the leaflets similar to Schefflera elegantissima in a comparable adult stage but with the lobes more widely spaced and sharp pointed. This description seems more of a match to what I can observe in your photo, but I cannot be certain.

Last week I emailed your photo to Schefflera expert David Frodin at Kew, but I have not yet heard back from him. I also emailed Agristarts and received a reply from the sales manager that John Banta was responsible for introducing 'Nova' to the U.S. I emailed John, and he replied that 'Nova' definitely is not S. actinophylla and that he originally observed the plant growing in the Philippines but obtained the seed for 'Nova' from a plant growing in Indonesia (outside Jakarta). John does not know what species it is but suspects it is not a hybrid.

I hope this information is of use.

Best wishes, Marc

Marc S. Frank

Extension Botanist

Plant Identification and Information Service

University of Florida Herbarium (FLAS)

Florida Museum of Natural History

[fastfeat]

I too doubt that 'Nova' is a form of S. elegantissima. S. elegantissima is typically pretty vigourous, especially once it starts to get adult foliage. I've seen 25'/8m adults pretty commonly in SoCal, less so in FL.

As for what it is, I'll leave that to the experts...