the.com/umbrella tree
a tropical drama queen that throws shade so well it does it for a living
means A name for several tropical and subtropical plants with large, spreading, umbrella-like canopies of leaves — most often Schefflera actinophylla (the Australian octopus tree) or Magnolia tripetala, grown for shade or as houseplants.
from A transparent English compound: 'umbrella' plus 'tree,' naming the plant for its silhouette — leaves radiating from a central point like the ribs of an open umbrella. 'Umbrella' itself wandered in from Italian 'ombrella,' a diminutive of 'ombra' (shade), descended from Latin 'umbra,' shadow — so the tree is, quite literally, a little patch of shade with roots. The name has been applied independently to unrelated species around the world, wherever a plant happened to spread its leaves like a parasol.
- leaf shape
- glossy leaflets fan out like fingers on a spread hand
- aka
- called schefflera by people who hate fun
- toxic streak
- poisonous to curious cats and dogs
- size range
- a houseplant indoors, a 15-meter giant outside
- red flowers
- tentacle-like blooms nicknamed the octopus tree
schefflera actinophylla — australian native tree with umbrella-like compound leaves, grows 40+ feet tall in tropical regions
musanga cecropioides — west african umbrella tree species with umbrella-shaped canopy, used for shade in savanna regions