@johngarment That the stems are reluctant to support their own weight is a very good indication the plant is receiving an inadequate amount of light. That the foliage is concentrated near branch apices (tip of branches/stems where extension growth occurs) could well be an indication that root congestion is significantly limiting your plant's potential. * How long have you owned the plant? * How long has it been in the same pot? * What do you do insofar as fertilizer? when last? what product? what NPK %s? what dosage? * Can you provide an image of the plant and pot? It would be very helpful. * How do you decide when it's time to water? * Do you water in small sips so no water exits the drain hole (the pot does have a drain hole?)? * When you water, are you sure you're saturating the entire soil column and at least 20% of the volume of water used exits the drain hole? * If the pot has a collection saucer, do you allow any water which exits the drain hole to be reabsorbed into the grow medium as the soil dries down? Al

It is an Ochna; Here is Ochna Thomasiana, Vietnamese mickey mouse plant. Here is a link that might be useful: Ochna Thomasiana

where are you.. big city name.. is it outdoors ... if indoors.. your location doesnt matter ... can we see the pot.. does it drain.. how and when do you water ... if indoors.. is it near a window.. how much light.. etc .. when it boils down.. you have given us nothing to work with other than some leaves have fallen off ... we need more facts ... and lastly.. did it somehow end up outside in full sun??? did you polish the leaves.. or did it come that shiny.. if you did. .what did you use??? ken

My questions were, in part, to determine if the cause might be a build-up of dissolved solids in the soil/ soil solution. If you have an operational water softener, and the fact that you're using only small amounts of water each time you water is almost certainly the at the root of the problem. As the levels of salt in the soil increased, the problem became worse and will continue to accelerate if not addressed. When NaCl (sodium chloride) is used as the exchange medium in water softeners, the sodium and chloride ions replace calcium and magnesium ions, which "softens" the water. Both sodium and chloride are essential to normal plant growth, but only in very minute amounts, so in this case the toxicity is a function of the dosage. Check your plumbing supply lines and see if there is a cold water valve or a way to tap into the plumbing upstream from the softener and use water from that source. If you know someone who uses a reverse osmosis water filtration system, that would be an ideal water source. Also good are rain water, snow melt, and condensate from air conditioners and dehumidifiers. The soil needs to be flushed thoroughly with water from a more appropriate source. Pour a volume of room temperature water equal to 10x the volume of the plant's pot slowly through the soil. The finger test works ok for pots with 5" of soil or less. The problem is, if the top 2 inches of your grow medium feels dry, the bottom 3" could still be 100% saturated. It's much better to use a wooded tell you can make in 5 minutes from a 1/4 or 5/16" wood dowel rod you can buy from any hardware, hobby shop, or home imp store. You can use that to very accurately determine appropriate intervals between waterings. More on that below. You'll also find info re how to water most effectively. Using a 'tell' Over-watering saps vitality and is one of the most common plant assassins, so learning to avoid it is worth the small effort. Plants make and store their own energy source – photosynthate - (sugar/glucose). Functioning roots need energy to drive their metabolic processes, and in order to get it, they use oxygen to burn (oxidize) their food. From this, we can see that terrestrial plants need plenty of air (oxygen) in the soil to drive root function. Many off-the-shelf soils hold too much water and not enough air to support the kind of root health most growers would like to see; and, a healthy root system is a prerequisite to a healthy plant. Watering in small sips leads to avoid over-watering leads to a residual build-up of dissolved solids (salts) in the soil from tapwater and fertilizer solutions, which limits a plant's ability to absorb water – so watering in sips simply moves us to the other horn of a dilemma. It creates another problem that requires resolution. Better, would be to simply adopt a soil that drains well enough to allow watering to beyond the saturation point, so we're flushing the soil of accumulating dissolved solids whenever we water; this, w/o the plant being forced to pay a tax in the form of reduced vitality, due to prolong periods of soil saturation. Sometimes, though, that's not a course we can immediately steer, which makes controlling how often we water a very important factor. In many cases, we can judge whether or not a planting needs watering by hefting the pot. This is especially true if the pot is made from light material, like plastic, but doesn't work (as) well when the pot is made from heavier material, like clay, or when the size/weight of the pot precludes grabbing it with one hand to judge its weight and gauge the need for water. Fingers stuck an inch or two into the soil work ok for shallow pots, but not for deep pots. Deep pots might have 3 or more inches of soil that feels totally dry, while the lower several inches of the soil is 100% saturated. Obviously, the lack of oxygen in the root zone situation can wreak havoc with root health and cause the loss of a very notable measure of your plant's potential. Inexpensive watering meters don't even measure moisture levels, they measure electrical conductivity. Clean the tip and insert it into a cup of distilled water and witness the fact it reads 'DRY'. One of the most reliable methods of checking a planting's need for water is using a 'tell'. You can use a bamboo skewer in a pinch, but a wooden dowel rod of about 5/16” (75-85mm) would work better. They usually come 48” (120cm) long and can usually be cut in half and serve as a pair. Sharpen all 4 ends in a pencil sharpener and slightly blunt the tip so it's about the diameter of the head on a straight pin. Push the wooden tell deep into the soil. Don't worry, it won't harm the root system. If the plant is quite root-bound, you might need to try several places until you find one where you can push it all the way to the pot's bottom. Leave it a few seconds, then withdraw it and inspect the tip for moisture. For most plantings, withhold water until the tell comes out dry or nearly so. If you see signs of wilting, adjust the interval between waterings so drought stress isn't a recurring issue. Any other questions or input, or something I could explain better? Al