Schefflera heptaphylla seed

Schefflera arboricola, commonly called umbrella plant or dwarf schefflera, is an evergreen shrub or small tree that grows in tropical climates to 10-25′ tall. It is native to Taiwan. In the wild, it sometimes grows on other trees as an epiphyte. It is widely grown in temperate climates as a much smaller ornamental foliage houseplant rising to 3-6′ tall on upright stems clad with glossy, slender-stalked, compound, palmate, evergreen leaves. Each leaf has 7-9 obovate-oblong to elliptic leaflets (to 4-6″ long) arranged in a circle on leafstalks to 6″ long. Tiny red flowers in compound panicles bloom in summer. Flowers are followed by round orange drupes (to 1/4″) which mature to black. Low-maintenance indoor potted plant. Where winter hardy, it is commonly used as a specimen/accent, hedge or container plant. The seeds are from variegated plants so they should produce seedlings that have variegated leaves and seedlings that have green leaves.

Growing Instructions

1. Soak the seeds in water for 12 hours.
2. They can be grown in pots or in seedling trays. Fill the pots or trays with a commercial potting soil mix or with peat- lite mix. Sow the seeds on the soil and then cover them with a light layer of soil that is twice the depth of the size of the seeds.
3. Water the soil and keep the soil evenly moist but not wet. When the seedlings are large enough, they can be transplanted into larger pots.