Schefflera....I think

[quaman58]

So my wife has a mildly annoying habit of buying house plants, growing them for some time, and then covertly planting them where she thinks I won't notice. Usually she's right, I don't. So she bought this little houseplant years ago which a bunch of stems grown in a sort of twist. It's now way overhead & while I'm looking up at something else, I notice what looks almost like avocados on them. Seed pods or fruit, I'm not sure; they're too high to reach. I've googled Schefflera fruits, which look nothing like these. Thoughts? The first pictures are of leaves & stem.

[quaman58]

"Fruits" in question..Sorry, not the best time of day.

[Alan_Tampa]

Pachira . Malabar chestnut. Either aquatica or the other one I can't remember.  

[quaman58]

Thanks Alan, never would have guessed that. All these years assuming it was Schefflera. Duh..

[Jerry@TreeZoo]

Pachira glabra, not P. aquatica.

[The Silent Seed]

Jerry - how can you tell them apart? (P. insignis as well.) Also, can you confirm or deny that Bombax glabra 

is the same as P. glabra? Or Bombax malabaricum for that matter…. this whole group is just confusing to

me. I enjoy them all, however. 

[quaman58]

Great info guys, thanks. Finding out the seeds are edible is a bonus!

[Jerry@TreeZoo]

When they are in flower, they are easy to tell apart.  The aquatica has a ;large colorful flower.

The glabra has a much smaller, white flower.

The insignis is kind of in between the two

 

When seedlings, discerning the difference is very nuanced.  I would not bet my life on IDing seedling trees of any of them.  Glabra tends to hold its leaflets out horizontally.

 

This looks more like aquatica, with slightly drooping leaves.

Insignis leaflets are not as lanceolate.

Fruit of the glabra is smaller, green (usually) and will fit in your hand.

Aquatica fruit is a hard, woody brown fruit, sometimes the size of a football.

Insignis fruit is similar to aquatica but smaller.

As mature trees, glabra is the smallest, typically 20' tall, often with green bark.

Aquatica is a large spreading tree with buttressed roots forming relatively early.

Insignis is a narrow crowned emergent that is very fast and goes straight up through the canopy.

 

[The Silent Seed]

Awesome info, Jerry - thank you!!! I didn't know about the obvious differences in flowers. 

Is Bombax glabra the same as P. glabra? 

 

[MattyNativeSeed]

The glabra is far more common.  I've heard that all of the ones at big box stores are glabra, even if they say otherwise.  There's an aquatica in the Merrick House in Coral Gables, with many seedlings underfoot.  I transplanted a couple and they took it very well.  The one at the Merrick House has beautiful rocket-like buttresses that made me fall in love with it... almost like a mini kapok.  I had no idea it was such a close relative to such a common tabletop plant when I was first falling in love!

Edited September 27, 2017 by MattyNativeSeed

[Jerry@TreeZoo]

5 hours ago, santoury said:

Awesome info, Jerry - thank you!!! I didn't know about the obvious differences in flowers. 

Is Bombax glabra the same as P. glabra? 

 

Yes.

[The Silent Seed]

Thank you, Jerry.