What's Blooming Now

A subconscious memory of the potted plant in your office may spark your recognition of the schefflera, also known as the octopus tree or Queensland umbrella tree. Native to tropical rain forests in the South Pacific, it was introduced to South Florida in the 1920s.

When schefflera the houseplant becomes schefflera the landscape plant, it can grow up to 40 feet tall. Outdoors, it blooms between March and November, with three-foot-long purplish spikes radiating from the top of a stem and swelling to look like the sucker-covered tentacles of an octopus before they burst into small, reddish flowers. Birds feed on the abundant seeds, spreading them across the region. Schefflera can grow like strangler fig in the boots of a cabbage palm and on rocks, in back yards, and in Everglades hammocks. Its dropped leaves can be messy, and its extensive root system is a problem for other plants. Schefflera has invaded natural ecosystems, where it competes with troubled native plants, earning it a place on Florida's "do-not-plant" list.

-Jerome A. Jackson, Florida Gulf Coast University