New and Unread Tree-Mails
Views: 472, Replies: 17 » Jump to the end |
Santa Cruz, CA  nativegardener Jun 22, 2018 5:17 PM CST |
I have attached a photo of an unfamiliar plant for identification. The photo was sent to me by a reader of my garden column, so I don't have any additional information or even my own guess. If you could ID this plant, I will gladly credit the NGA!  |
Name: Daisy I Reno, Nv (Zone 6b) Not all who wander are lost    DaisyI Jun 22, 2018 7:14 PM CST |
| You could be looking at the reminds of a spent bloom stalk/seed pods. It looks very familiar but that was the only thing that came to mind. If you think about it, the plant is tip down - it has fallen off of something. Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and proclaiming...."WOW What a Ride!!" -Mark Frost President: Orchid Society of Northern Nevada Webmaster: osnnv.org |
Name: Sue Ontario, Canada (Zone 4a)           sooby Jun 23, 2018 12:24 PM CST |
| It kind of does look upside down, but blowing the picture up shows a wider flare at the base so maybe not. Could it be a Euphorbia of some kind - is it even alive? |
Name: Daisy I Reno, Nv (Zone 6b) Not all who wander are lost DaisyI Jun 23, 2018 12:31 PM CST |
Oh! I think I just figured it out. Its a dried up bloom stalk from a palm tree.  Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and proclaiming...."WOW What a Ride!!" -Mark Frost President: Orchid Society of Northern Nevada Webmaster: osnnv.org |
Name: Sue Ontario, Canada (Zone 4a) sooby Jun 23, 2018 1:15 PM CST |
| Is the stalk usually fatter at the base on palm tree bloom stalk? |
Name: Carol Santa Ana, ca Sunset zone 22, USDA zone 10 A.        ctcarol Jun 23, 2018 3:31 PM CST |
| What ever it is, it appears to be hanging, rather than coming from the ground. It could be a palm bloom that has dried up. |
Name: Sue Ontario, Canada (Zone 4a) sooby Jun 23, 2018 3:49 PM CST |
DaisyI said:Oh! I think I just figured it out. Its a dried up bloom stalk from a palm tree. I think you are right, there are some that are weeping: |
Name: Scott Tampa FL (Westchase)           ScotTi Jun 23, 2018 4:16 PM CST |
| I agree on the dried flower stalk from a palm. The photo is giving a illusion from the smaller flower stems hanging down from the stalk that it is wider at the bottom of the photo. |
Name: Porkpal Richmond, TX         porkpal Jun 23, 2018 8:11 PM CST |
| It looks much woodier than the pictured stalk. Do palms produce stouter flower stalks? Porkpal |
Name: Carol Santa Ana, ca Sunset zone 22, USDA zone 10 A. ctcarol Jun 23, 2018 8:15 PM CST |
| Oh Yes! I would take pictures, but they just trimmed ours ...Thank the powers that be! |
Name: greene Savannah, GA (Sunset 28) (Zone 8b) I have no use for internet bullies!         greene Jun 23, 2018 8:28 PM CST |
| Since the reader of your column may be waiting for an answer, perhaps you can request a location for this mystery plant. Also, maybe ask if there are any palm trees nearby. That would be helpful information. Please remind your readers that NGA is free to join! Sunset Zone 28, AHS Heat Zone 9, USDA zone 8b~"Leaf of Faith" |
Salt Spring Island, BC (Zone 8b)      islander Jun 23, 2018 8:49 PM CST |
| Pseudopanax ferox from New Zealand. The juvenile plant grows this way. He who plants a garden plants happiness. |
Name: Porkpal Richmond, TX porkpal Jun 23, 2018 9:27 PM CST |
| Wow! I googled that, and I believe you nailed it. Porkpal |
Salt Spring Island, BC (Zone 8b) islander Jun 23, 2018 9:28 PM CST |
| It's an oddball. I used to have a plant until a winter toasted it. It was at a plant sale at a botanical garden and I think everyone thought it was dead. This write-up gives a bit more detail: http://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora_... He who plants a garden plants happiness. |
Name: Daisy I Reno, Nv (Zone 6b) Not all who wander are lost DaisyI Jun 23, 2018 11:43 PM CST |
| That does look like it. Thank you islander! I thought this plant was located in Santa Cruz? Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and proclaiming...."WOW What a Ride!!" -Mark Frost President: Orchid Society of Northern Nevada Webmaster: osnnv.org |
Name: Sherry Austin Santa Cruz, CA (Zone 9a)      Henhouse Jun 24, 2018 1:09 AM CST |
| Islander nailed it. It's a New Zealand plant that does well in Santa Cruz, and the Bay area. I had one at my last house.. Suncrest Nursery in Watsonville used to grow it (and may still). There were a couple of cultivars or hybrids around some years back. That sawtoothed leaf is the juvenile form. Mature leaves look like a normal leaf. I was delighted to see them growing when I visited New Zealand some years back. The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us. |
Name: Suzanne/Sue Sebastopol, CA (Zone 9a) Sunset Zone 15       |
My gardening Blog! Handmade quilts, face masks, new & vintage fabrics in my Etsy store. Summer Song Cottage Instagram Sewing posts |
Santa Cruz, CA nativegardener Mar 24, 2020 12:42 PM CST |
| I might not have acknowledged the solution to my mystery plant. Sorry! Islander identified it as Pseudopanax ferox from New Zealand, and that checked out. I was sent the photo by a gardener from somewhere in the Monterey Bay area. After I learned that this strange plant was real, I found it in the New Zealand garden of the UC Santa Cruz Arboretum and Botanical Garden. Wow. |
| « Garden.org Homepage « Back to the top « Forums List « Plant ID forum |
