These Neolitsea aciculata are fairly new, on Upper Asian Way. The label says they were accessioned in 2013, but they spent some time in the nursery. They're new to me anyway. I would have to learn some more botanical terms to distinguish these from Neolitsea sericea, which I've posted often because I like it a lot, particularly in the spring. I see on Neolitsea in Flora of China @ efloras.org that there are a lot of Neolitsea, but the triplinerved leaf base and the hairy abaxial surface of young leaves takes me pretty directly to: "Leaf blade with golden yellow or pale yellow sericeous hairs abaxially", and then to "Leaf blade shortly acuminate at apex, acumen obtuse; fruit globose" for N. sericea. To work my way to N. aciculata, I pass through "Leaf blade falcate-acuminate, acuminate, or abruptly acute at apex, acumen not obtuse; fruit ellipsoid" "Young branchlets hairy" "Midrib and lateral veins elevated adaxially on leaf blade; umbel 6-flowered" "Leaf blade lateral veins 2-6 pairs, lowermost pair arising from base or a little above base and extending to above middle of blade" "Leaf blade smaller, mostly less than 10 cm, largest not over 13 cm" "Young branchlets, leaf blade abaxially, and petioles with pubescence; petiole often more than 10 mm" "Fruit obovoid-ellipsoid or ellipsoid to ovoid" (of course, I have no idea, so it's a good thing I know where I'm heading) ending at "Leaf blade lanceolate or obovate-lanceolate, pubescent abaxially when old; rudimentary pistil densely hairy." Maybe someone could tell me if "acumen obtuse" are pointer tips or less pointy. They look pretty similar to me, but I seem to have mostly stayed away from leaf tips on N. sericea. I'll do something about that.
I tried to compare the leaves on this and Neolitsea sericea | UBC Botanical Garden Forums, which was a total flop. I don't understand what "acumen obtuse" means, and the leaves look pretty much the same size and shape to me. Here are N. sericea and N. aciculata. What I did discover is that the N. sericea petioles are generally twice the length of those on N. aciculata, which Neolitsea aciculata in Flora of China @ efloras.org says are "0.5-1 cm". Many of them seem to be longer than that, but in all the leaves I compared, there was a very noticeable difference - curiously, where I happened to pick an aciculata leaf with a long petiole, the comparison sericea leaf petiole was even longer; I was not paying any attention to this at the time, was not yet even aware of this distinction. I took some old leaves from the ground under N. sericea over to the aciculata. In all cases below, I'm holding the sericea leaves on the left. I tried to pick similar leaf sizes to compare. I don't see any difference in the shapes, particularly if "acumen" refers to the leaf tips, which on aciculata are supposed to not be obtuse. I did notice in my photos that the older aciculata leaves have hairs along the main ribs on the underside of the leaves. In the first photo, the sericea leaf is below. The other photos are aciculata. Here are hairless petioles on older leaves on N. sericea on the left; hairs on petioles on N. aciculata on the right. You can see the difference in petiole length here as well.
This is a pretty plant in your garden. I'm new to here and just want to start my garden in a house that my husband and I recently bought. I don't know much about gardening yet, but I hope I can figure it out as soon as possible. I'm currently choosing easy-care plants for my backyard, do you think Neolitsea aciculata is too difficult for a beginner to care for?
I think you're going about this backwards. Rather than get excited about rare plants growing in a botanical garden, I'd think your first step would be to map out your garden areas - the dimensions, light and soil conditions, and then do a tour of nurseries to see what's available for those conditions. Just telling us that your location is Canada is not giving people much info to help you. You can click your user icon in the upper right and edit Personal Details with your city/province. And then post questions in Outdoor Gardening in the Pacific Northwest or HortForum. Or hire a landscaper to help you set up a plan.
