Flowers needed, give it significantly stronger light and it should bloom. And reveal thereby what it is.
No, we've never seen blooms of any kind on it although it has been healthy since we were given it. We did give someone a cutting and it didn't have any milky sap. We googled Mandevilla and while some pics look close, I don't think that's it.
Hmmm, it gets quite a bit of indirect light. The problem is that it has intertwined itself so well into our stair railing, relocating it would be pretty difficult.
So, upon closer inspection this morning we found this 3 small drops of milky liquid, all on new growth on the same branch but nowhere else. There was no cutting involved and it is just sitting on the surface. We've never seen this before. It almost looks like it was deposited on it. I've uploaded a picture.
Growth and foliage appearance in photo is of a shaded specimen. Flowering house plants need a lot more light than foliage house plants will get by with. Plant will have to be detached for repotting later anyway.
I think Togata is right, it's Mandevilla (sometimes sold as Dipladenia). I grew one indoors this winter and it looked exactly like that. Once it was indoors out of the full sun, the internodal spacing jumped waaaay up to where it looked like a completely different plant growing on top of last year's growth, even though it was right in a West window. These really need full, 100% outdoor sun in this climate. I also suspect the mega-growers who pump these out for the home centers are using growth regulating chemicals to make them bushier for resale (but the plants always seem to look stringy when grown at home). It's a very common practice nowadays.
OK, it appears most of you may be right. Mandevilla does seem to be the most accurate ID. Wanda took a cutting and it did exude milky sap. So, we are in the process of untwining it from the stair way railing, re-potting it and moving it into the sun to see if we can get some blooming action. If it does bloom, I'll post some pics, Thank you all for your help! Don & Wanda
