# What is my beautiful tree? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 12, 2003, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-my-beautiful-tree/187988 "2003-07-12T16:22:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![istara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e79b87/32.png) [@istara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/istara)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2003, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-my-beautiful-tree/187988/1 "2003-07-12T16:22:26Z")
I bought a little tree/houseplant from the hypermarket, but it had no label, and the store people didn’t know what it was, nor did any name flash up when the bar code was scanned. The leaves are five pointed, rather like cannabis leaves, but obviously it is not that! It’s “trunk” is made of several stems twisted together, they are thicker and silvery-grey-brown at the bottom, green from about half way up to the top. Leaves a nice bright, shiny green, older leaves darker, young ones really very bright green. Leaves start small and grow big (eg don’t unfurl). Any guesses? I have no clue how to care properly for this plant, but I love it and don’t want it to die. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2003, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-my-beautiful-tree/187988/2 "2003-07-12T16:30:26Z")
Your plant might be a [False Aralia](http://images.google.com/images?q=+%22false+aralia%22&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&safe=off&as_qdr=all&sa=N&tab=wi). ---
**Author:** ![Desmostylus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@Desmostylus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desmostylus)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2003, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-my-beautiful-tree/187988/3 "2003-07-12T16:33:01Z")
Sounds like an acer. ---
**Author:** ![Desmostylus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@Desmostylus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desmostylus)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2003, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-my-beautiful-tree/187988/4 "2003-07-12T16:34:23Z")
[Acer leaves](http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=acer+leaves&sa=N&tab=wi) ---
**Author:** ![istara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e79b87/32.png) [@istara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/istara)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2003, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-my-beautiful-tree/187988/5 "2003-07-12T19:17:48Z")
Might be an acer, definitely not a False Aralia I think (shame because I love the name!) OK I’ve now taken some pics of it - with my PDA-cam so terrible quality sorry) - [http://www.freewebs.com/istara/littletree.html](http://www.freewebs.com/istara/littletree.html) If it’s an acer, what variety would it be? ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2003, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-my-beautiful-tree/187988/6 "2003-07-12T19:27:55Z")
Acer is the technical name for maple, and the little ones shown in **Desmostylus’s** link are Japanese maples. My wild guess about your plant is that somebody wove together some umbrella trees. I don’t remember the technical name. ---
**Author:** ![istara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e79b87/32.png) [@istara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/istara)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2003, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-my-beautiful-tree/187988/7 "2003-07-12T19:53:39Z")
[http://green.reinyday.com/trees/scheff.html](http://green.reinyday.com/trees/scheff.html) Yes - I think that is what it must be. Some sort of umbrella tree. Looks like it enjoys plenty of light and regular water. Thank you everyone for your help! ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2003, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-my-beautiful-tree/187988/8 "2003-07-12T21:20:52Z")
I believe we’re looking at a speciment of _pepermoia verticillata_ (or it looks very exactly like the one in my book) - I couldn’t find a decent online image of it though. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2003, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-my-beautiful-tree/187988/9 "2003-07-12T21:27:32Z")
_peperomia verticillata_ even ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2003, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-my-beautiful-tree/187988/10 "2003-07-12T21:44:25Z")
" It’s “trunk” is made of several stems twisted together, they are thicker and silvery-grey-brown at the bottom, green from about half way up to the top." They do that sometime with ficus, but you might take a leaf to a nursery & ask them.