My friend gave me a couple of these trees (at least, I think that's what they are) and insisted that they were from Hawaii. I realize I have no idea how I should be taking care of them. She said watering them every other day was best and that they loved sunlight, but one has since died and the leaves of the other are starting to discolour. I was hoping I could find some help identifying what these plants were so I could look up some care techniques for the remaining one. They're between 3 and 4 feet tall. The one that died was the tallest and has having trouble staying upright in its pot, as it only had one long stalk that was topheavy with leaves. The surviving one has two branches, split very near the base. Here are some links to the pictures I currently have of the plants. If needed, I can take more detailed photographs of the leaves and the stalk.
I think you have Cordyline terminalis (Hawaiian ti plant). It is hard to tell from the photos. Do searches on the two names above to see if you think it matches. Cultivars vary alot in colour, so look carefully.
I can't tell for certain from either plant. Blew the pictures up but no increase in detail. I hate to disagree but I think it might be a plumeria ... and is very Hawaiian.
certainly! It will take about 20 minutes for my camera batteries to charge enough for a photograph. I google image searched both suggestions and the ti plant didn't look right. The images i produced were of fairly short plants that had leaves sprouting all up the trunk, my trees only have the little plume of leaves at the top of each stalk. Also, the most similarly coloured leaves I could find out of that google search seemed to have a different shape. for hawaiian plumeria, i produced this image: http://aquarticles.com/images/Fish Stores Canada/Hawaiian Botanicals/p-16 Plumeria tri-color.jpg and my little tree's leaves look nearly identical to that, but the stalk of the tree is more similar to the images produced for the Hawaiian ti plant. Instead of having a smooth-ish trunk, it's like it grows in bulbs; there are consistant (though not evenly spaced) knots all down the trunk.
and Ummmm not to bring up bad news, but Plumeria do like full sun and water is important. In nature they go dormant in the dry season and often loose all their leaves -- but they are NOT DEAD, they are dormant. So it is possible you put the plan into dormant state ... hopefully you haven't thrown the plant out. A picture of the leaf may be enough (ti leaf margins run length wise while plumeria is more width wise. A picture of the very the tip of the branch where they leaves are formed and close-up of the mid stem (plumeria leaf scars don't mend the same as ti plants) would be a plus. You may be able to tell yourself as plumeria are flexable as if they were made out of rubber while ti stalks turn woody and are stiff like a stick ... and plumeria leaks white milky sap when a leaf is broken off but no need to do that if you can provide close up pictures. BTW Plumeria are known for their fantastic flowers but you may not have seen any on these plants.
These are very flexible stalks, all the way down to the very base. I was told they would flower maybe, but the girl who gave them to me said she nor her mother could ever get them to flower. The margins (which I think is the little pattern things on the leaf) run width wise. Camera's almost charged enough for photographs of all the things you've specified.
I can't stick around much longer as daughter need puter but will check back later -- am rather certain it is plumeria but pictures will tell and sure Eric will let you know....
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y219/Kaeliface/kaeliPlantHealthyLeaves.jpg << topview picture of healthy leaves. http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y219/Kaeliface/KaeliPlantLeafStems.jpg << leaf base http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y219/Kaeliface/KaeliPlantStalk.jpg << mid stalk http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y219/Kaeliface/KaeliPlantLeaves.jpg << another picture of the leaves. You can see the brown discolouration and spottiness of the leaves that I think look unhealthy the best in the last picture, but also in the picture of the leaf bases you can see how brown they are at the edges on the underside of the leaf. I'm not sure what's causing that, but I love my plant and want it to get better.
oh, wow. Thank you for the help. I'm pretty sure it's a plumeria. Googling plumeria care showed me that the brown discolouration is sun scarring, so I've got them in too direct of sunlight. Maybe now I can coax some flowers out of her. :D Thank you so much for the help!!
Its a plumeria but you'll have to wait for flowers to find out which one -- and you'll really love the plan then! Are you sure the other plant is dead? Someone else can probably best tell what is hapening to your plant -- what are you feeding it?
so far it's just been water. I've had the plants for about eight months now and they never went into the dormant period I am reading about. The one that died I think developed stem rot, as I am now reading about it and the symptoms were pretty much the same. My friend did warn me that they can lose all their leaves, but she didn't imply that it was a seasonal thing, so when they both lost their leaves in December I just kept watering them and they sprang right back. Reading about how they "don't like wet feet", I know I've got them potted right with rocks and then sand and then the potting soil, but I fear I've been overwatering the one I have left. I pray it doesn't develop stem rot. I believe that it's old enough to flower, that this is at least its third season since it was brought back from Hawaii, but I live in Colorado and that may not be the best place to produce a flowering plumeria. Most of the FAQ I read indicate that they're not good indoor plants, but mine's been thriving in front of a window. I will start with fertilizer and hopefully see some blossoms eventually! I read about the dormant cycle in these plants on every website I've been to so far, but is that cycle absolutely necessary? Colorado gets tons of sun all year 'round, it just gets bitterly cold in the winter (something easily staved off by the wonders of indoor heating!) When my plants lost their leaves I thought it was from stress (my cat wasn't too kind to the new "roommates" when they first got here), but it only took a matter of two weeks for them to bud and bloom out noticably.
I have 40 feet of Plumeria trees beside my house. Full sun.(They prefer it). Annually, they do lose all of their leaves. Sub-tropical here, the Plumeria get, starting in late summer, a yellow powdery mildew on the underside of the leaves. This is of no consequence, because the leaves will fall off anyway. On 10/25/06, 70 percent of the leaves are gone. They still have a few flower spikes coming out. The Plumeria, of course, is the Frangipani whose flowers are predominant in Hawaiian leis. The tubular flower with an open base enables a thread, with or without a needle, to be used to quickly whip out a lei. Your plants are Frangipani and should gently, over time be given more sun. They are a full sun plant will not bloom to capacity without it. The stems or trunks are rather rubbery. Excessive watering will give them root rot. The frangipani is one of those wonderful plants from which any piece or part can be broken or cut off ,any time of the year, stuck in the ground or pot, and it will just keep growing. Allow the sap to dry or calcify (from two hours to two days, it doesn't care) before you plant it. A big thing here in my neighborhood is to do the desirable trimming and lay the branches by the curb(some weighing 20 pounds) and they are all gone in a couple of hours. Good luck!
