Pics were taken with a camera phone so bare with me. First two pics are of my moms plant. The things probably over 100 years old (or at least the line is) and the original plant belonged to my mothers great grandma. Its a tradition when the kids move out of the house to take a part of it with them and repot it so theres like 20 of these things throughout my entire family. Anyway, over the years everyone has forgotten what it is and i've been wondering for a while, so here i am. Theres about 5 plants growing out of the pot with 5-7 leaves growing out of each in a fan shape. In the spring they grow a 1-1.5 foot stem which grows a white bloom with long thin petals attached to each other. The only way i can think to describe it is that it reminds me of the webbing between a ducks foot. Third pic is a bromeliad that i had identified here a while ago(wont say what kind cuz i dont want to bias your replies) but didnt have a camera so just used a pic off the net that i thought looked like it...just double checking. :) 4th and 5th...i have no idea. Once i get it identified i'd like to know if it can take a lot of pruning. Its kind of crowded around the bottom in between the two stems and one of the stems is bending out to the side.
the first 3 lookt he same to me althoguh i dont know the name of that one. the bottom 2 are a schefflera arbricola ( i think thats how you spell it). i have 2 of these one of the variegated white and green colour and one one jsut plain green. they both liek the light out of my eastern and western windows. i wounldnt really worry about trimming the scheffleras bottom leaves, as the plant gets larger it will do this on its own. it is considerd a shrub if im not mistakin so it will branch if you decide to cut the stem at all.
It's hard to tell from photos 1 & 2, but the leaf appears to be from Amaryllidaceae. The description of the flower sounds like the genus Hymenocallis. Do a Google for images & see if it's similar. In the event that it is an Amaryllid (Hymenocallis or not), it will benefit from more light in the summer (outdoors in shade or part shade), lots of summer moisture, & they appreciate summer fertilizing. For the winter, drier (but not bone dry), cooler (but still frost free), & no fertilizer but still provide a fair bit of light. Simon
Thanks for the IDs. I looked up Hymenocallis and it looks like the flower i remember. Would the common name for it be Spider lily? Im surprised you got it with the horrible description i gave you :). Its been a while since i've actually seen the flower so forgot the membranes dont actually connect the long petals. For the Bromeliad i did get Guzmania before. But as i said i just used a pic off the net the first time.
Yes, you could use Spider lily but that's also the common name for several other Amaryllid species and/or genera. Those include, Lycoris, Nerine, Crinum, and Ismene. FYI...the genera Ismene was split off from Hymenocallis several years ago but the flowers are similar enough that your plant could be from either genera. Simon
Been looking around and i think i've got it. Hymenocallis littoralis The Scientific name doesnt really matter to anyone but me. If i come to my mom with Hymenocallis littoralis she'll just look at me like im stupid...so she's getting "Spider Lily"