Help me ID my sad, inherited mini tree!

[dionysiap]

Hello!
Could someone help me ID this said little plant tree I inherited from my grandmother?
Thanks!

[tomc]

A ginseng rooted ficus would be my guess.

[rainbowgardener]

I 'm sorry tom, but did you look at the photos in closeup? I don't think so.

One possibility would be avocado tree, but often an avocado seedling that size you could still see the avocado pit at the bottom. You could check by just digging an inch or so down in the soil.

Other large leaf possibilities include plumeria, frangipani, magnolia.

Hope someone else will come by to resolve this! (imafan, where are you!

[dionysiap]

Thanks a lot for the suggestions, much appreciated!
I repotted it when I got it, and I don't think I could have missed the pit, so it's not an avocado!
Somebody suggested to me it was a Pavonia, could that be possible?

[imafan26]

It is not plumeria. The stems and leaves are wrong. I don't think that plant has milky sap by the look of that leaf.

I don't think it is a Pavonia, that is in the mallow or hibiscus family and your plant has shiny smooth edged leaves. Pavonia leaves not so shiny and more erose edges. Most mallows are hairy, but not all.

The stems of your plant has very short inter nodes probably not mango either.

Short inter nodes maybe a shrub more than a tree. The pot looks too small and by the lankiness of it, probably not getting enough light.

It is hard to tell what it is. The leaves remind me of rubiaceae because of the lanceolate, alternate node pattern, and shiny leaf, but a lot of different plants would fit that description.

[dionysiap]

Thanks for the input! It was quite neglected indeed when I got it, but I think it should be getting enough light now! It's still recovering And this pot is already twice as big as what I got it in, poor thing. I think I should wait until spring before putting it through that again though.

I looked up the Pavonia, and I think that might actually be possible, I forgot but when I got it it had small purple flowers that looked very much like those I see on the pavonia! Is there another plant it could be with similar flowers and shiny smooth edged leaves, like you described?

[imafan26]

The keys to plant id are a leaf which usually will narrow down the family, a seed, and a flower. The flower will tell a lot since its relatives will also have the same configuration. Color not so much, even within families cultivars will vary in color.

If you get it healthy enough to bloom, it might be a lot easier to identify it with the flower.

Good Luck.

[catgrass]

Japanese Plum? AKA Loquat? Avocado would be my other guess.

[applestar]

FWIW --

Super abused/neglected avocado on the left -- looking for the spindly close leaf nodes and the corky look to the stem, a couple of potted mangos on the right. Comparison of lushly growing avocado and mango leaves in the middle.

[rainbowgardener]

good thought, applestar. Mango seems like a possibility:



https://catalog.wlimg.com/1/1778856/full ... 025620.jpg

[applestar]

Oops, just noticed this:

I forgot but when I got it it had small purple flowers that looked very much like those I see on the pavonia! Is there another plant it could be with similar flowers and shiny smooth edged leaves, like you described?

...so I guess not avocado and not mango. It really seems more like a shrubby perennial then.

[purpleinopp]

Wonder if this is some kind of Strobilanthes? Another one besides Persian shield.

[rainbowgardener]

Hey, purple-I-o, glad to see you back! Haven't seen much from you for awhile. You have been one of our best plant identifiers.

I did some looking around at Strobilanthes, there are 400 species of them. Some of them do get woody stemmed, but I didn't find any that looked much like the picture.

They do often have small purple flowers, but the flowers are funnel/ trumpet shaped.

OP said the flowers were pavonia like

Here's a pic I found of pavonia flower:


https://www.penick.net/digging/images/Pa ... 205_07.JPG

dionysiap, is this what your flowers looked like?

Here's a picture of a strobilanthes flower:


https://www.bensbotanics.co.uk/userimage ... dSmall.jpg

this is strobilanthes wallichii, which is a woody stemmed variety, but the leaves don't look like the plant we are trying to ID


https://www.urbanjungle.uk.com/prodpix/S ... lichii.jpg
strobilanthes wallichii showing leaves

Here's about the closest strobilanthes I could find:


https://southeastgarden.com/uploads/2/8/ ... 75.jpg?357

Strobilanthes gossypifolius

[dionysiap]

Thanks for all the replies! On advice of imafan26 I'm going to do my best to get it to bloom again (first see if it survives winter) and if it works I'll post some pictures of the flowers, that should help!

[catgrass]

I still think it looks like a Loquat, although Loquat has white blooms, not purple.