Bougainvillea bonsai. That's what it looks like to me but its hard to tell with out the flowers.

Gardener Guy

Unlike most other forums this one is very outdated, it's becoming harder and harder to use.

As far as what it is; leaf placement and bark tell me it isn't a bougy. We do have a tree here that looks like it, makes it a tropical but, could only give you the Vn name. They don't use botanical names but 'story' or descriptive names only. If my notes are right it's called 'son tranh' but don't have what that translates to in E.

Bob

thanks guys. i still think it might be a rose family plant, because it does not have the thorns of bougy; plus the trunk is smooth, unlike bougy...

Roses have thorns (unless they're the deliberately grown 'thornless' hothouse ones sold to florists) last time I looked, but while the leaves of this tree looks 'rose-y', rose leaves are thinner and the edges have tiny teeth.

I think the tree could even be privet - they can get very quickly.

They can get 'fat' very quickly.

I agree with Larke, it looks exactly like my Chinese Privet.

Thanks again folks! I am more inclined to believe it is a Malus, maybe a crabapple. It is common to have crabapple bonsais. Besides, among this batch of bonsais that we recently bought, there was another one which looked just like it and which was labeled as "apple".

I think it is Eugenia uniflora (Brazilian Cherry, or Surinam Cherry)... from the opposed leaf structure, reddish new growth, bark color and slightly pointy leafs.
These are native to where I live.

It is not any kind of apple, the leaves are all wrong (not thin enough or toothed).

It is not any kind of apple, the leaves are all wrong (not thin enough and shaped wrong).

larke:
thanks for pointing out that. i think you may be right - malus leaves should have serrated margins.

goodstav:
we do have a big mature surinam cherry here and the bonsai in question does resemble it. also, according to the information on this link http://fichas.infojardin.com/bonsai/eugenia-uniflora-manzana-de-agua-bonsai.htm, Eugenia uniflora can be trained as a bonsai and it has a common name in spanish as "manzana de agua", which might help explain why it was wrongly labeled as "apple". the origin of our bonsai is china, though...

yep the spanish name might have created all the confusion. I do also create bonsai from surinam cherry... and so might do the chinese too :) when you pick a leaf and smash it in your fingers, can you feel a nice fruity scent? well, that's exactly the taste of surinam cherry. if so, protect it from frosts.