Have I? I feel incredibly silly for not being able to identify this myself and I had been sure that it was a kind of elm. Yet every day that passes, and when I search for pictures, it's rather an ugly duckling in the world of elms. I consoled myself that it was an elm for over a month and cared for it like any other of my trees. It was not in good condition when I found it. It had soap or insecticidal spray scum on the leaves leaving white residue, the leaves were green but sparse, there was cheap coarse rock glued to the surface which after years of bonsai observation, I've come to recognize as a terrible bane. I removed it from its original pot, discarded soil, rocks and all misc objects, touched up the roots, repotted it, fed it, planted moss and now it is as it is in the pictures below. Recently in the past 2 weeks it started spitting out tiny bulbous green balls that looked like flower buds. Originally I thought that was how elms put out new leaves. Upon searching for elm information, elm branches look different than the branches on this tree. I am stumped (quite literally) and at breaking point in terms of trying to understand. Will someone please help me with this tree? (I will feel even more stupid if this indeed is an elm..). Many thanks.
Thanks for the reply, Lorax. I've grown them(ficus) in recent years and this has growth habit and branches unlike any ficus I'm familiar with. The branches have no sap and don't quite bleed as profusely and thickly as a ficus. The nodes in the branches are hairy or fuzzy. It reminds me of something more mammalian than botanical..
Well, it's not an elm, that's for sure. I say ficus because it really (to me at least) resembles the ficus bonsai I see down here all the time.
Well it's nice to know ficus FLOWER... I just found it today after work! :D I don't seem to find other specimens online that flower. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know.
Ficus is a big family. And as they're classed with the other Angiosperms, of course they flower. It's just not often that we get to see F. benjamina in bloom.
Thanks, Lorax. I guess I'm just in total disbelief myself! I've not seen any ficus flower ever. Do you know if it will produce fruit after it flowers?
My money's on Serissa foetida or similar. Ficus all (to my knowledge) produce a hollow fleshy receptacle that contains the floral parts. This entirely encloses the flower except for a small pore which allow entrance of a specialized Fig wasp and no other pollinators.
Thank you very very much, Saltcedar. It certainly looks more like a serissa than a ficus, in terms of growth and habit. I never would have thought serissa and this is my first close encounter with one so many thanks in bringing it to my attention. If it isn't serissa, I hate to say it but I still find it hard to believe that it's a ficus of some sort. I've seen how ficus grow and I own 3... there can't be very much variation in the way they put out leaves, fruit and flower. My only reservation about serissa is the branches. I cannot find an identical serissa with branch-growth like mine. Nevertheless the flower is rather tell-tale. I will treat it as a serissa from now onwards until proven otherwise. I will keep you all updated and if anyone still has takes on what it is, please give a shout out. Any tips in care would be most welcomed.
I have been recently advised that it is not a Serissa but a Fukien Tea tree. After looking at many pictures of other Fukien Teas, Fukien Teas are an even closer match than Serissa. If anyone knows how closely related those two are, let me know. They sound like apples and oranges but I could be wrong. I hope that this is the end of my search. This tree has been mistaken and has had identity crises 4 times!
Can't say for certain because there are several species used as bonsai, but Ehretia microphylla has smooth bark and Ehretia anacua (a texas native) has sandpapery rough leaves so those two at least don't seem to match. I also saw one image of Serissa with rough corky bark like your tree. I think we need more input?