Mystery shade plant!

9 years ago

My stepmom gave me this plant about six months ago, telling me it was a gift from a friend who only told her that it should be grown in shade. After sitting for a while, it began to grow, but after growing a few new leaves, the bottom ones began dropping off and the new ones look diseased! They are covered in little holes and wrinkly-looking.
I've included links to more images since the forum only allows one:
http://i.imgur.com/BQmpKIe.jpg
A view of the plant from the side. It has an interesting growth pattern, growing only one leaf at a time from the newest previous leaf.

http://i.imgur.com/zJYYafX.jpg
Close up of one of the leaves. Sorry the lighting isn't great, but in case it's hard to see, there is some variegation on the leaves, white splotches and closer to the middle, reddish areas. When it initially began to grow, there was no red in the leaves, only larger white areas.

http://i.imgur.com/Pn5G8lW.jpg
Another leaf close up. As you can see, the leaf is very crinkly and covered with holes, despite having just grown.

My questions are:
1. What is this plant? I'd look to look up more specific instructions on its care since it's clearly not doing well.
2. Any idea why its leaves look so sad? I don't see signs of bugs but I'm a beginner at this.

apologies if this is in the wrong place, this is my first post! thank you!

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Comments (7)

floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
9 years ago
I can't tell what the plant is but I am wondering if it is actually an outdoor plant? Do you know for certain it is meant to grow inside?

The 'variegation' looks like spider mite damage or some other sap sucker working from underneath the leaves. The wrinkling could also be a sap sucker such as aphids.

This post was edited by floral_uk on Mon, Jan 12, 15 at 16:45
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
9 years ago
many plants.. grown outdoors... shed leaves when brought indoors for winter... i dont understand.. why you did??? ..

if its a zone appropriate plant.. it should have been stuck int eh ground in fall ...

you treated it like a baby.. and now you and it.. are suffering ... lol ..

you can add pix to your post.. by simply replying to your own post ...

or if you use a photo sharing site.. like photobucket.. you can do multiples in one post...

it reminds me of .... and in the dead of winter.. i am blanking... lol ... painters palette... i will see if google will help .. wait.. fallopia .... but i am an amateur at this Id game ...

mine is near all white ...

many peeps.. i believe down south.. do not approve of any knotweed ....

ken

ps: do you see any sucking insects on the back ... or do you know how to check for mites????

Here is a link that might be useful: link
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missingtheobvious
9 years ago
pirate, re. posting multiple images:

If you use a photo-hosting site like Photobucket or flickr, you can put multiple photos in a single GW post.

Otherwise, you can post one photo per GW post -- but you can always make additional posts with additional photos. Sometimes, however, the software seems unwilling to let you make two posts in a row: the software is rather paranoid about spam. But you can get around that by changing the title of each subsequent post (the "Subject of Posting" field above where you type your message).

Here's your third linked photo. It's a classic example of damage from a sap-sucking critter; couldn't be anything else.

{{gwi:2118454}}
[I posted this by putting the image's address into html format, which the free FF add-on BBCodeXtra does for me.]
peren.all Zone 5a Ontario Canada
9 years ago
It does look like Persicaria virginiana 'Painters Palette'. This is an outdoor plant that grows in sun or shade in moist soil. If it survives the winter inside plant it in spring.
Yes Ken they have changed the name many times.
pirateshipinabottle
Original Author
9 years ago
I live in an apartment in a mountainous region, where it gets really cold in the winter. There is nowhere I could plant it outside unfortunately. I've checked the leaves obsessively for bugs and I can't find any. Don't know if I should do anything special?
floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
9 years ago
Peren.all I thought of Persicaria too but I wasn't sure I could see the chevrons clearly enough. But I think you're right if 3 of us have the same idea.

pirateshipinabottle - I don't wish to be a wet blanket but if it is P virginiana it is a bone hardy, rampant perennial which can become quite a nuisance for some people. It is really a fairly doomed project trying to grow it as a house plant. It will never be happy whatever you do for it. BTW spider mites are well nigh invisible to the naked eye. To put it bluntly I'd ditch it and get a healthy houseplant which can be relied on to enjoy indoor life.
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
9 years ago
you are tending to baby it .. it is not a baby ... mine went thru a miserable z4 MI winter last year ... and i still couldnt beat it back with a stick ....

google spider mites.. and find out how to check for them.. you cant see them .... you are getting multiple hints of what to do ... and not paying close attention ...

it will struggle.. indoors.. until you can figure out where to plant it in mother earth .. and before you do that.. you have to insure its NOT INVASIVE in that area ....

a gift is a gift.. but if they gave you the impossible.. what can i say ... it is NOT a houseplant ...

or we are all wrong.. and your step mom is right .... you should learn all you can.. and TEACH HER .... about it all ....

ken