Consulta Plantas

Care of the indoor plant Schefflera pueckleri or Mallet Flower

The genus Schefflera, family Araliaceae, includes more than 600 species of trees, shrubs, and climbing plants native to Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. Some species are: Schefflera pueckleri, Schefflera actinophylla, Schefflera arboricola, Schefflera digitata, Schefflera wallichiana.

Common name: Mallet Flower. Scientific synonym: Tupidanthus calyptratus. This species is native to Southeast Asia.

They are fast-growing tropical evergreen trees that reach 12 meters (39.37 feet) in height. The leathery, palmate-compound leaves have 7-9 leaflets that are glossy green on the upper side and yellowish-green below. They produce cluster inflorescences with greenish flowers. They bloom from mid-spring to mid-summer. In a pot they do not usually flower.

Mallet Flower is used as indoor and greenhouse plants in large pots. In regions with a temperate-warm climate it's used as isolated specimens, along walls and to form informal hedges.

Schefflera pueckleri grows in full sun and semi-shade exposures. Resists light and occasional frosts down to -2 ºC (28.4 ºF).

The soil can be a normal well-drained garden soil with coarse sand and containing abundant organic matter. The transplant is done in early spring.

Water regularly with lime-free water, waiting for the surface part of the substrate to dry. Mallet Flower does not resist drought. In summer periodically spray the leaves with lime-free water.

Fertilize with compost at the end of winter and with mineral fertilizer every 2 months in spring and summer.

Prune dry branches and withered inflorescences in autumn.

Schefflera pueckleri is a plant quite resistant to the usual pests and diseases.

Mallet Flower is propagated by cuttings and from seeds sown in spring in the nursery.

Images of the indoor plant Schefflera pueckleri or Mallet Flower