A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2007 need id help

i hate when plant tags just say 'tropical'!

i don't have a camera - so i will describe as well as i can...i know a few of you are really good at id's, so i'm hoping you can help...these need to be repotted and i want to make sure i put them in the right type of soil AND i want to make sure i put them in the right kind of lighting too!

1) dark green leaves with scalloped edges - oval with pointy end - they are 1 to 2 inches long and up to 3/4 inch at widest point. they're not thick leaves and are 'matte' not glossy. bushy-growth plant (not a vine) with no flowers.

2) variegated leaves with scalloped edges - green base with white/silvery accents and burgundy highlights - stems are also a bit burgundy in tone. oval with pointy ends. size is up to about an inch long and a bit over 1/2 inch wide. the leaves are not thick/fleshy and there is slight raised portions where the different colors are. seems to have the beginings of small clusters of white flowers at some of the nodes where leaves come out of the stems - could just be new growth tho, too small to be sure. bushy type growth, not a vine.

3) variegated leaves with scalloped edges - green with white/silver splotches on either side of center vein on the leaves. the leaves are oval/pointed at ends. they are about 1 1/4 inches long and about 1/2 inch across. bushy type growth, not a vine. no flowers.

thanks!!

forgot this one - no tag at all on this one

4) long thin leaves. green in color and no wider than 1/2 inch. very very long - more than 2 feet. almost like a draceana marginata leaf...there is no stalk though. the leaves grow from a central area that is right at soil level.

could number four be a spider plant?

thanks for the thought, it's not a spider though.

i DID come across two of them while looking for something else...the two that have variegated leaves are two different varieties of aluminum plants.

i hate not having a camera!!

Could 2 and maybe 3 be a coleus? Are the stems square? Are the leaves of 1-3 opposite (coming off the stems at the same place, but opposite sides, then a bit more stem and 2 more leaves) or alternate (one leaf, some stem, another leaf on the other side, some stem, another leaf on the first side, ...). On #4, are the leaves stiff, do the margins have tiny teeth or do they fray at all? This is fun without pictures. Give us lots! of details.

oops! didn't clarify in my last post 2 and 3 are two different types of aluminum plants.

on 4 the leaves are very similar in shape to draceana, i doubt it is though because it doesn't have the stalk. the feel of the leaves is similar to yucca - although they are much more slender than yucca leaves. the leaves are smooth - no teeth at all. they do have a thicker section underneath that runs along the central vein - i'll have to doublecheck it to see how far up the leaves that thickness goes. the leaves are up to 2 feet long. they stand up a bit because of that extra thickness and then curve down towards the ends (so the thickness can't possibly go all the way to the end).

the growth pattern is kind of cool (i was looking at it this morning), the leaves are growing from the base alternately and the whole thing gently curves around - maybe it hadn't been rotated for a bit and was just growing towards the sun? not sure.

i also have another one that i got at ott's the other day - the guy ringing me out took the tag off of one plant and i took it back...he'd taken the tag off of another one too and i didn't catch that (until i was already home).

5 is a bushy type plant. bright green leaves that are ovalish in shape and a bit waxy-looking. they are thickish but not anything like a jade leaf. they are solid in color except for a lighter green vein running down the middle of each leaf. the largest leaves are about an inch long and about 1/2 inch wide - newer growth is obviously smaller. this might be a succulent or even a hoya. oh! just had a thought. the leaf texture is similar to the variegated peperomia (green with lighter green, i forget the name of that variety, tho).

margaret, i didn't think about the stems at all - will have to take another look to be able to describe them. lol, glad you're having fun!!

4 could be a nolina, their leaves feel like a yucca and some don't have stems. http://www.desert-tropicals.com/plants/Agavaceae/Nolina.html
Why have you discounted draceana, just because it doesn't have a stem? Could it be a drac that got lopped off and rerooted?

5 are the leaves opposite or alternate? Pointed or rounded at the tips? How bushy? Hoya tend to be viney, especially when they get going. I'm not sure why, but coffee tree popped into my head while reading your description.

never got on the comp last night...am taking a break at work now...

the growth pattern of 4 just doesn't look like a dracaeana, to me. the leaves are stacked tightly on one another and there are about 2 dozen leaves growing from the base. if they can have that many leaves then, i guess it could be a drac top that's been rooted. i had a drac marg. years ago and the way this thing is growing doesn't look the same - do the other drac grow in the pattern i've described? another reason i've discounted a drac is that the leaves are solid (no variegation at all) as well as having that thicker bit underneath.

to try to be more clear, the leaves are growing from a clump, new growth comes from the center. the base looks like the leaves have wrapped around as they've grown - the base is actually a bit curved. nothing severe, just a gentle sloping, so to speak. not sure if it's an issue with growing towards the light source or just the way this thing grows. tried to draw a pic of it in paint...can't get it right - especially since i don't have the plant sitting in front of me!

the nolina parryi looks to be the closest to what this thing looks like - mine does not have as many leaves as the pics i found through googling. and i did see a notation that this plant is restricted, so i don't know if it's even available for sale.

5 has rounded points on the tips of the leaves. actually, the leaf size of the larger ones is a bit bigger than waht i said earlier... about 1 3/4 inches by a good 1/2 inch (maybe a little more).

haha! i've got a coffee tree (that one was marked) and it's leaves are a darker green as well as a bit more flimsy than what 5 has as well as having some texture to them.

the leaves on 5 have only that lighter-colored center vein and the two sides are slightly slanted up from the vein - and they are completely smooth in texture.

i will take another look at the stems and the leaf positions when i get home and then post them later.

i mentioned it being a hoya because the leaves are a bit waxy as well as being kind of thick (which i understand most hoya are like). are hoya always viney? or are they bushy first and then go viney (like how the arrowhead vine is)

the leaves of 5 are similar in texture and thickness to the peperomia that i have - could this be another type of that? the leaves are much smaller in size tho, and their shape is different. the pep leaves are round.

Arghhh. I want to see them!!! Ok, it still could be a nolina, those pics are of hard grown plants in the so. AZ sun. If the leaves are Very narrow at the base, maybe a calabanus hookerii? They will develop multiple growth points, but at varying times depending upon circumstances. When you gently move the soil away from the bottom of the rosette, do the leaves come directly from the roots or is there a bulb-like thing/caudex under there?

Oh, my limited experience with hoya (4 out of ~100?) is that they are all viney from the beginning. Regardless of whether you have one or not, here's a site to make you wish..
http://members.tripod.com/khedlund/hoyapdl/index.html

oh, that's a great site!!! yes, it DOES make ya wish!! hoya's are something i want to get in to!

okay.

1 the leaves are a solid dark green. pointed tips, scalloped edges. the center vein is evident and there are visible markings/lines going outward from the center vein - gives an effect of texture. the leaves don't feel bumpy though (like the multi variegated aluminum plant leafs do). the edges of the leaves do seem to have a bit of a lip on them tho. stems are round and brown in color. the length of the leaves is no larger than about 1 1/2 inches and the width is a bit more than a 1/2 inch. leaf growth is alternate along the stems.

the one that i have that is marked coffee plant has long pointed oval shaped leaves in a bit different shade of green. the longest are about 3 inches and 1 1/2 inches in width.

maybe they were marked wrong? or maybe i've got two coffee plants (ha! i don't even drink coffee, either!)

4 doesn't seem to have anything other than regular roots. i didn't dig down too far as i could see white roots coming directly out of the base of the leaves at the bottom of the stump as soon as i moved a tiny bit of the soil aside. so, definitely a shallow root system. the leaves themselves are pretty narrow and do go to a pointy tip - no tendrils like the yucca tho. solid medium green color.

here's a crappy drawing i did in paint. for the 'back' one the leaves are actually more tightly together than i could draw with the mouse - a very 'stacked' look to it from that side. for the 'front' one, that's pretty much how it is...the leaves are a lot 'looser' on what i'm calling the front side. that's due to how it is growing...as i said before it looks like the leaves are growing towards one direction. almost wrapping themselves around the stump/base.

5 has multi-branching bushy growth. leaf growth is sometimes alternate and sometimes paired opposite - older growth as well as new growth at the top. doesn't seem to be consistant. the stems are round and with the multi-branching, could almost be considered tree-like. the leaves have a definite vein in the center...there are very light markings going outward from the center vein. the leaves are smooth textured and a bit waxy feeling. they aren't quite as heavy as the peperomia leaves; they aren't as thin as the aluminum plant leaves, tho - just somewhere in between. the shape is oval with pointed tips on some and others have a more rounded tip - new growth and older growth. again, no consistancy with it.

any ideas??

okay, i borrowed a camera.

here's number 1




number 4




number 5