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emerald1951

new to me plant.....

emerald1951
12 years ago

Hi all has anyone ever seen or had this plant....

the tag says, "lucky bean"......

{{gwi:78279}}

I found this plant at Home Depot...one tag says, lucky bean and the other tag says, "castanospermum"

and one tag says high light....the other medium light and both tags says moderately moist....

I thought it was kinda neat, so I got one...thanks for looking....linda

Comments (4)

  • jessiec777
    12 years ago

    Very cool! I wish I had some advice for you, but I have never even seen one before :-) I'm just here admiring lol

  • plantsaremylife_grow
    12 years ago

    Linda

    Lucky bean is the common name. Castonospermum is the botanical name. They are native to Australia I believe. I love these plants and have a big pot of them. They are large trees in the wild with red flowers I believe, but probably no flowers for us :(. I keep mine in medium or even low light. It's sitting in a north window and coming into active growth now. If you try it in high light acclimate it b4 because it looks like it would burn easily. I would recommend that you keep them moist all the time or at least let it moderately moist with very slight drying. Mine dried out completely and it was almost a complete disaster. Fortunately I caught it. I lost a lot of foliage and the stems shriveled up. It was a close call. It took a loooooooong time to bounce back after it dried out. These are by far some of my favorites. This is just my experience. Btw the "bean" will fall off especially if they dry out. I dont think at this stage its doing anything to the plant; it just helps it sell! Lol. Mine are about two feet tall and no longer have the bean. Kyle

  • snappyguy
    12 years ago

    This is Castanospermum australe. It is the only species in the genus. Native to Queensland and New South Wales in Australia, and the islands of Vanuatu and New Caledonia. In the wild it has been observed to grow up to 130 feet tall, but generally doesn't get that large. I believe the bean at the bottom of the trunk is actually the seed from which the plant sprouted, and will eventually be shed. The plant is poisonous, so be sure to keep any pets or children away. You have a nice, healthy looking plant.

    Mark

  • birdsnblooms
    12 years ago

    Linda, like Kyle, I let my LB dry too much. First the leaves shed, then the plant died. Kyle lucked out.
    It's a very pretty plant though. If watered, lol.

    Mark, yep, the bean is the seed the plant sprouts from.

    Lucky Bean does well in very bright light. Direct summer sun will scorch leaves.

    Home Depots, LB's are very root bound and usually need repotting. When soil dries daily, it's time to repot.

    However, I'd hold off repotting so soon after bringing home. Roots need to be checked for size before potting in a larger container.

    Good luck, Linda, very nice LB. Toni

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