A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Plants and Flowers Forum Mystery Plants? Need names for these 8 plants

I think plants 1 and 2 are the same thing, whatever that is, just different colors of flowers. There's also one that's quite similar leaf and flower-wise except the triple lobed leaves are somewhat smaller. When hot weather hits, these plants die back to the ground. They come back in the coolness of the fall then die back for the winter then give it a shot again in the spring. They're pretty tenacious (sp).




This plant, #3, looks like a caladium and likely is but the leaves are always very washed-out looking. It's been that way since someone gave it to me a couple of years ago. Seems healthy even though it looks like it's at deaths-door.


This plant, #4, is very sensitive to the weak fertilizer solution I water all my other plants with. One watering with the fertilizer solution and leaves start wilting and in a day or so most are dead. I had it in intensive care for 6 months before it perked up. Intensive care for me means I left it alone. I also told it to butch-up or that its next stop was the compost pile.


Someone told me they thought this was an aralia. But that was the guy across the street and he can hardly find his own mail box so I don't have much faith in that identity.



A volunteer among the mint.


Got this from a friend in Dallas. It's usually much more uniformly reddish-purple but seems kind of splotchy here. As usual, I don't have a clue why.



This plant blooms infrequently. The flower is white and kind of showy and on a single stalk rising from the center of the plant. All the leaves, likewise, rise from the base of the plant and not from a stalk. it grows well in either sun or shade and with or without water other than rainfall and we get precious little of that here in south Texas. It's my kind of plant, kind of like a weed you can't kill. That's a yardstick I stuck in the middle of the picture for scale.

1. 2. and 7. look to be Oxalis. I have the purple and green one "inside"

3. Syngonium

4-5 Looks like Philodendron sellum to me and the top one looks like a small one, or baby.

6. Possibly spiderwort???

Not sure what the last one is.

#7 'Burgandy Oxalis'is more commonly called Purple Shamrock.
Cold weather gardeners usually grow this as a year round indoor plant. It can be planted out as cannas are. The little cones are scattered on the soil in spring. In early fall the entire plant is lifted to dry and stored indoors over winter. Planted outside it looks like purple butterflies fluttering in the breeze. Each three leaved stem folds to one triangle at night and on cloudy days. I plant these out in filtered light. If they get full sun the leaves tend to scorch while if to shady the leaves are mostly green with bloches of purple. Took a few years to find the best site.

B. Oxalis takes a long rest at the end of its flowering season whether it's in a pot or the ground. Now may be the time of year your oxalis plant takes a rest. Provide it some temporary shade if it's sited in full sun, keep it watered on the dry side and stop food until it has two weeks of good new growth. You can remove heavily spotted leaves. This is my favorite plant - lucky you to be able to grow it outside year round.

#8,perhaps crinum?

Thank you all. I really appreciate your quick replies.

DowntoEarth: I checked all the names you offered on Dave's Garden lookup, and you nailed them all. I don't mean that like it sounds, like I doubted your word. I just wanted to look up growing characteristics and such. Good job. My wife knew gardening stuff inside-out, too. Me, I never paid close enough attention, always busy with other stuff.

herbalyn: My Burgandy Oxalis is in a mostly shady location and stays in pretty good shape all winter. Our winters here are pretty mild. Actually, this winter seems to me to be the coldest one we've had in many years with the longest lasting cold spells. However, I think the coldest it got this year was around 29 and that was only a quick dip just before dawn. Plants in a sheltered location weren't affected at all. Right now the oxalis is getting a little late afternoon full sun but that will end as soon as a nearby sycamore fills out. I'm going to have to take the flashlight out there tonight to see this folded leaf business. Learn something new every day.

porter57: Crinum is absolutely right. I looked it up. Don't know exactly which one but the americana seems closest, especially the flowers. Mine never flower as abundantly as those in the pictures. In fact, I'm lucky to get one or two flowers a year. Still the foliage is plush and beautiful. I was told by some that they were lilies and by others that they were irises but neither of these ever quite fit. Crinum fits perfectly. Crinum it is.

Thanks again all. I've gone for many years with some of these plants without knowing what they are. Some my wife planted many years before her death so I've tried to keep them alive and locate their identity. But that's like looking for a needle in a haystack if you don't have a starting point. Now I know. Thank you.

Looks like you have the answers to most of these already,
so I'll just chime in to agree with these wise folks.

1. Oxalis, possibly O.incarnata("White Wood Sorrel")

2. Oxalis, possibly O.articulata("Pink Wood Sorrel")

3. Commelina communis ("Blue Dayflower")

4. Syngonium podophyllum, one of several pink cultivars ("Pink Arrowhead Plant")

5&6. Philodendron bipinnatifidum / aka-Philodendron selloum ("Cutleaf" or "Saddleleaf Philodendron")

7. Oxalis, possibly O.regnellii 'Atropurpurea' ("Purple" or "Burgundy Oxalis")

8. Crinum would be my guess here too,
possibly Crinum asiaticum ("Spider lily")

If you can get out to the burgandy oxalis while its still light outside you can actually watch the leaves close up, they do so almost at once. The flowers do the same.

Crinum is an interesting and new to me plant. If you google the name and read thru the sites there is one from an East Texas grower. Called Marcellescrinum. May provide you with indepth info specific to your area. Glad you found this site and learned the name of your plants.

herbalyn: I didn't get a chance to go out to the burgandy oxalis until dark because my neighbor caught me out at the mailbox. What is with that guy and mailboxes. Anyhow, I just went out (8:30 p.m. here) and almost completely dark. Most of the leaves are closed just like you said. They look like butterfly's do when they close their wings. Can't wait to show my grandkids. They're teenagers now so probably wouldn't appreciate it. I think we only begin to appreciate the little wonders of the world as we get older. Everytime I learn something like this I wonder why it seems everyone else knew it but me. Have to pay more attention.

The crinum is a great plant. It's very hearty. Down here in south Texas it will last all winter but get pretty ratty looking so in the fall I cut it way down to the base. As soon as the weather gets up around 50 to 60 degrees consistently the thing starts to grow. At first it will grow a couple of inches a day. It looks rather like a green telescope being pushed up out of the stump of the plant.

If you notice I put a small, cheap plastic fence between the crinum and the lawn. It gets tall and droops over the lawn. The fence supports it and is totally hidden by the plant when it's filled out. Notice also there's no grass on the lawn side of the plastic fence. The crinum extends out and totally shades the area.

zuzu's petals:
Yes, the folks that responded to my queries are very wise and very kind to take the time. It really was important to me to learn the names of these plants because of the sentimental value of them to me, expecially the wood sorrel oxalis and the crinum. They're both tough plants because I pretty much ignored them for several years until a couple of years ago when I began giving them some TLC. Not a whole lot but just a little fertilizer and fairly regular watering. And boy, do they respond.

My wife also had a hanging basket of Swedish Ivy that I just recently learned the name of and that I barely saved from dying of thirst. One of the wires also broke and dumped the ivy and its dirt out onto the ground. It probably layed there for a couple of days before I found it. And just a week or so ago I dropped the whole thing on the covered patio where I overwinter it and broke the basket scattering dirt and plant in all directions. Another tough plant.

And, just recently learned the name of the big potted plants we have, plumeria - frangipani. Everyone always told me they were "Hawaiian plants." These, too, are hardy and tough and also very beautiful in the summer when fully leafed out and full of white flowers with golden centers and edges. And, their smell is delicious. I wrote to a professor at a hawaiian college and sent him a picture. He was kind enough to clue me in. He said they're native to Mexico.

Really got off the subject. I talk too much I think.

TexasJim,
In case you didn't already know, Swedish ivy is easily rooted from cuttings. I used to have one when I lived in Arkansas (couldn't move it with me down here to Mississippi as I always have sooo many plants and had to choose just a few to bring). I think it's wonderful that you are taking care of your wifes flowers--she's probably smiling down at you from heaven for it! I love to grow just about everything and think the experience is so rewarding. Looks like the "plant bug" is getting a good hold on you too.

1, 2, and 7 are Shamrocks. I have #7, the purple shamrock.

#6 looks like a Wandering Jew.

Hi MLM,
Thanks for the tip regarding the Swedish Ivy. It never occurred to me to try to propagate this stuff. I think I'd better do that considering my "grace" and "gardening skills." It never hurts to have a backup

Hi Shirley,
Yes, #6 does look like a wandering jew now that you mention it. The leaves are very similar in shape, and I do have a lot of the Purple Heart variety of Wandering Jew about six or so feet away. If there is a green variety this may be one of them.

I know a lot of people don't like wandering jew and consider it a nuisance and invasive. My experience has been that it's pretty well behaved and provides a nice accent here and there amongst the greenery.

there is a green variety of the purple heart wandering jew (aka trandescantia, a very large family of plants) i have some growing in my kitchen right now. although, my leaves seem a little "tougher" if that makes sense. in fact, my leaves on mine are just exactly like my purple heart, only completely green.

I still think Commelina communis ("Blue Dayflower") for #6.
It is in the same family as wandering jew and spiderwort.

Yours looks exactly like those which are running amok in my woods lot.

zuzu, that might be why it resembles the green one i have, but "not quite it". it is pretty, and i'd trust what you said... 'cause i sure don't know.