Schefflera arboricola

Schefflera arboricola
Schefflera arboricola in cultivation
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Asterids
Order:	Apiales
Family:	Araliaceae
Subfamily:	Aralioideae
Genus:	Schefflera
Species:	S. arboricola
Binomial name
Schefflera arboricola (Hayata) Kanehira

Schefflera arboricola (syn. Heptapleurum arboricolum) is a flowering plant in the family Araliaceae, native to Taiwan. It also goes by the common name "Dwarf Umbrella Tree."

Growth

It is an evergreen shrub growing to 3-6 m tall, free-standing, or clinging to the trunks of other trees. The leaves are palmately compound, with 7-9 leaflets, the leaflets 9-20 cm long and 4-10 cm broad (though often smaller in cultivation). The flowers are produced in a 20 cm panicle of small umbels, each umbel 7-10 mm diameter with 5-10 flowers.

Cultivation and uses

It is commonly grown as a houseplant, popular for its tolerance of neglect and poor growing conditions. It is also grown as a landscape plant in milder climates where frosts are not severe. Numerous cultivars have been selected for variations in leaf colour and pattern, often variegated with creamy-white to yellow edges or centres, and dwarf forms.

The umbrella plant lends itself easily to the bonsai form and is popular as an indoor bonsai.

Care

The plant prefers higher light if possible, but can adapt to a wide variety of light levels. As a tropical plant it likes moisture, but avoid letting the plant sit in water after you water it. It likes to be moist but not wet.

Aerial roots

Under the right conditions, this plant will produce aerial roots that, when they reach the ground, will convert to fully functional roots. They give the plant an unusual and interesting appearance. Three conditions must be maintained for the plant to produce them: a high growth rate, insufficient trunk roots (the plant is root bound or these roots are pruned) and constant, very high humidity.

Photo gallery

• 

  A bonsai from New England.

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  A variegated cultivar

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  An old indoor bonsai presented as a penjing

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  Soon after branch pruning, to demonstrate aerial roots

References

• Flora of Taiwan: Schefflera arboricola

External links

• Fukubonsai, information about Schefflera arboricola as indoor bonsai.