Help with ID of three foliage plants, please?

17 years ago

I'm new here and hate to simultaneously introduce myself and beg for help but I need some assistance with plant identification. I promise to try to repay my karmic debt in the future.

Over the past year or so I have collected these mystery plants from the local big box store, each labeled with the ever-helpful "Premium foliage plant" tag. Can someone please tell me what any or all of these are?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jasoncain/323530960/

Thanks,

Jason

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Comments (6)

mrbrownthumb
17 years ago
1. Ming Aralia?
2. ZZ Plant?
3. ?
mr_subjunctive
17 years ago
The one on the left is a ming aralia, Polyscias fruticosa, I'm pretty sure. I know nothing about growing them, having never tried, but the reason I've never tried is that I somewhere picked up the impression that they were temperamental and high-maintenance.

The middle one is a Zamioculcas zamiifolia, i.e., a "ZZ plant." Super-tolerant of just about everything but overwatering.

Don't recognize the one on the right.
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jason_c
Original Author
17 years ago
Thanks for the help guys. Two out of three aint bad.

Concerning the Ming Aralia, Mr Sub, my experience has been thus:
Originally placed it about 15ft from a SSW facing sliding glass door, where it shed branches at the rate of about one every three days. That was three months ago. I have since moved it next to said window and it hasn't dropped a leaf since. "Low light" my a**. The point is, mine has liked light but has been very tolerant of moisture levels. Now that we understand one another this plant has been growing like mad. More or less all of the lower growth is new in the past few months.

Concernring the ZZ plant: I was somewhat negligent with this guy to begin with and didn't water it enough and it didn't grow at all, to the point I thought perhaps I had bought a plastic plant; but still it didn't die. I started watering it properly and it has gone crazy with new growth.

Anyway, thanks for your quick responses, guys.

Jason
lucy
17 years ago
The third one could be a Balfour aralia, or 'dinner plate' aralia.
User
17 years ago
I can't see the pix, it's asking me for a password.

I particularly went for a look as Balfour Aralias are one of my all-time favorite plants, which took me yrs. on & off to find replacements for. I currently have 2.

If you find that IS what it is (try some Google image searches, it's also known as Aralia Balfouriana), you can give it the same treatment as the Ming (Polyscias) as they're closely related plants, from the same family. I find both of these do well in bright, indirect light & can benefit from pebble trays.

Ming can have the reputation of being very fussy plnts which do not like to be moved. I found neither of those to be true & had even taken my Ming out of the house to meetings several times. I did lose it after a few years tho'.

Both of them also propagate readily either from stem (or tip) cuttings or from rooting in water, but preferred time to do that is in Spring. Hope this helps!
jason_c
Original Author
17 years ago
Sorry for the delay in responding. Been doing a bit of traveling. Anyway, thanks to everyone for the help.

Also, pirate_girl, I must have accidentally made the picture Private. I've made it public again so you should be able to access it now if you are still curious. If you click on "All Sizes" you can see a somewhat bigger image. I recently moved it to a more appropriate pot and it seems to have managed well.

Jason