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Can anyone please identify this plant...

hsmp1707hsmp1707 Posts: 5
in Problem solving
It's growing in a pot indoors. It's about seven feet tall, and recently it's lost about half it's leaves. They turn yellow and drop off.

Since I don't know what it is, I can't find out what it's requirements are.

Any help very much appreciated. Thank you....

Posts

  • fidgetbonesfidgetbones Posts: 17,618
    It looks a lot like a citrus of some sort. Do the leaves smell citrussy if you crush one and sniff it? Citrus do tend to lose leaves in winter if it is too hot, such as near radiators.  They can stand winter cold (but not frozen) if kept on the dry side.
  • hsmp1707hsmp1707 Posts: 5
    Hello fidgetbones and thanks for replying.

    I just gave a leaf a really good squeeze and there's no smell at all. Do I need to remove one and really crush it?
  • hsmp1707hsmp1707 Posts: 5
    Can no-one identify this? I'm losing it by degrees, which is a pity.

    It's never produced flowers or fruit and we must have had it for well over ten years now.

    Any help much appreciated,
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    I think it may be a schefflera arboricola which has become unhappy.

    If so, this info may help - https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/houseplants/schefflera/schefflera-plant-care.htm

    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • hsmp1707hsmp1707 Posts: 5
    Thank you Obelixx. I checked the link and I think the leaves look more like schefflera actinophylla. However, they don't all grow from the same point on a branch like the umbrella leaves do. Each leaf is maybe a quarter inch up from the last, so it doesn't give quite the same umbrella effect.

    This is the closest I've come to identifying it though. Maybe it's closely related...
  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Posts: 11,385
    With that sort of leaf arrangement, could it be in the Ficus family?
    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
  • hsmp1707hsmp1707 Posts: 5
    Thanks Bob,

    It could well be. The leaves remind me of a rubber plant. I'll look into it...
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