Random plant event: Schefflera arboricola blooming

Here's one I never thought I'd see.


Technically, I don't know that this is a flower, but the few photos I was able to find on-line make me think that this is the very beginning of a developing flower spike on Schefflera arboricola. Not sure what cultivar; some yellow-variegated thing.

The weirdest part, though, is where I found it: a dark corner of the plant display in an Iowa City hardware store. (The Ace Hardware on Dodge St. in Iowa City, if you're in the area and want to gawk.) It looked like it had probably been there for a while, too, like this might have been the plant's way of keeping itself entertained while it waited to be purchased. Or maybe it's flowering 'cause it thinks it's going to die.


I don't know what it was thinking. I do know that this is the only time I've ever seen this, despite having met an awful lot of S. arboricolas, and I was impressed. Or confused. Or something.

I considered buying the plant, so I could watch and document the whole blooming progress, and if it had been anything other than a S. arboricola, I probably would have, but I'm just not a fan. I have one, because I wanted to give the species a chance, and it's done fine for me, but I don't need another. (I like S. actinophylla fine, though, and would buy another if it were doing something cool like this: I can't explain why actinophylla works for me and arboricola doesn't.) I feel mean for saying so, but that's why it didn't come home with me.