Schefflera macrophylla seed

LATIN NAME: Schefflera macrophylla

COMMON NAME: Large-Leaved Schefflera

With leaves the size of dinner plates held out on long stalks, this schefflera is hard to miss. It grows as an upright, evergreen shrub or small tree, reaching up to ten metres or more, with the alternate, large, glossy, palmate leaves of the several oval leaflets and, through the warm months, the many small, greenish or whitish flowers in the fine, branching heads, followed by the small, round, dark fruits. Each leaf splits into its finger-like leaflets around a central point, giving the whole plant a bold, tropical look, and the new leaves unfold with a soft, fresh green before they harden and darken. It is a species of the flowering shrub in the aralia family, native to the warm forests of the south-eastern Asia, while it is treasured for its fine, large, glossy leaves, and it is known as the large-leaved schefflera.

The large-leaved schefflera belongs to the aralia family, Araliaceae, and it is an upright, evergreen shrub or small tree of the warm forests of the south-eastern Asia, while it is treasured for its fine, large, glossy leaves, and it is known as the large-leaved schefflera. It is a close relative of the smaller scheffleras grown widely as the room plants. It is prized for its fine, large, glossy, palmate leaves.

Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology

The botany of the big, glossy leaves has kept the schefflera on the botanists’ radar, since the way the leaf splits into its finger-like leaflets lets the plant catch the dappled light of the forest floor. Its fine, branching heads of the many small flowers and its small, round, dark fruits have also been studied for their value to the insects and the birds, and the tree has been written up in the horticultural papers as a bold-leaved plant of the warm room and the conservatory. The scheffleras have been studied for their easy, forgiving ways in the warm room, and for the way their bold leaves filter the light. With a leaf as bold as this behind it, the large-leaved schefflera has earned a steady place in the record of study.

Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications

Around the warm room and the shaded garden, the large-leaved schefflera is a dependable presence. Its many small, greenish or whitish flowers feed the insects, and its small, round, dark fruits feed the birds, while its fine, large, glossy, palmate leaves give a lush, tropical feel to any corner. Its bold, easy form has made it a treasured room plant and a fine shade shrub of the warm garden. In the shaded corner of a warm garden its great leaves make a bold statement, and under a bright roof it has long been one of the most forgiving of the room plants. The large-leaved schefflera is a rewarding plant for the grower, and for the warm-garden gardener it brings a bold-leaved, glossy evergreen. These seeds are best sown fresh — press them at a shallow depth into pots of rich, moist, free-draining soil, keep the pots in a sheltered, half-shaded spot and never let them dry out, and the first sturdy shoots will be along before long.