Hello, my name is Tom. OK - Like many bad stories start, I planted this seed... I found the seed under some pods at Garden Ridge in their dried flower arrangement area. I picked it up with every intention of planting it, but no hopes that anything would happen. I've collected and planted seeds since I was a kid. After waiting for a while, I gave up on it. Then, one day a plant pops up - two little burnt leaves on a green stalk. These seeds are heat treated so that they will not grow. This guy is now about 3 years old and stands 25 inches high from the soil line. It appears to be some sort of tree as the small trunk is bark covered. If I remember correctly, the seed was a bit the size and shape of a garbanzo bean. The leaves now are 7-pointed, 7 1/2" long from the stem, to 10" wide. (We're speaking of that large one in roughly the 8:00 position.) ( photo / image / picture from Calsetines's Garden )
Good morning, your little plant is an aralia,they are very nice indoor plants.They do well outside in temperate zones and that is where they flower,a white bunch of fluffiness is how I describe the flowers, the leaves are really attractive just by them selves.I think they also produce an attractive berry but cant remember details., hope this is a help.
( photo / image / picture from Calsetines's Garden ) Chocolate, thanks for your quick ID. I looked at a picture of an Aralia and was excited, for a second. I looked at the description and, well, these guys don't produce seed pods. Then I remembered that we have one (see the picture). The leaves have serrated edges... The plants are very different in structure as the unknown is definitely a small tree and currently has no branches. I think we still have a mystery on our hands.
Good news! I literally stumbled upon a page describing a tree Brachychiton Clarabelle (a hybrid of Brachychiton discolor & Brachychiton acerifolius). The leaves were similar, but not the same. I started looking at images of various Brachychitons and the seed pod of B. acerifolius looks familiar to some of the pods I was seeing at the Garden Ridge where I picked up the seed. I think I have a species of Brachychiton.
