Pronounciation: Scha-FLIR-a are-bor-i-KO-la

Hardiness zones
Sunset (13 with protection) 14-24
USDA (9 with protection) 10-11

Landscape Use: Dwarf schefflera is used primarily as container house plant through out the world. In Phoenix, it can be used as an evergreen specimen for large outdoor covered atriums, common areas in shopping malls, or east facing large entryways. In coastal southern and central California, dwarf schefflera is used as an outdoor specimen plant for a tropical effect in partial sun/shade locations depending on closeness to the Pacific coast.

Form & Character: Dwarf schefflera is upright to mostly rounded, clean and green, often glabrous, luxurious, tropical.

Growth Habit: Evergreen, herbaceous to semi-woody, broadleaf perennial shrub or tree, moderate growth rate to 6- to 10-feet tall (depending on culture and use) with a somewhat less than equal spread. Stems grow adventitious, aerial roots.

Foliage/Texture: Thick, leathery, dark green, glaborous, palmately-compound leaves, 7 to 9 leaflets per leaf, leaflets flattened (not drooping) to 6-inches long, oblong with a prominent mid vein; medium coarse texture.

Flowers & Fruits: Flowers are small red spikes up to 2-feet long. Dwarf schefflera flowers are are almost never seen in Phoenix, although they are somwehat common in southern California in outdoor growing sites during winter and spring months. Fruits are a small, spherical oval drupe, red-violet color when mature, rarely to almost never seen in Phoenix.

Seasonal Color: None in Phoenix, unless 'clean and green' is your thing.

Temperature: Absolutely intolerant of winter freezing temperatures or summer temperatures above 112^oF.

Light: In Phoenix, dwarf schefflera must be protected from full sunlight. It grows best in a filtered or screened sun exposures of at least 40% to 60% light exclusion to full shade in inland southwest environments; otherwise, it not only tolerates but in fact thrives in partial shade to full sun in the coastal areas of southern and central California.

Soil: Dwarf schefflera grows best in a well-drained soil with a relatively high in organic matter content.

Watering: In Phoenix, regular waterings are needed to keep plants robust. Be weary of water quality as salt accumulations in soil caused by poor water quality can result in premature leaf drop and sometimes leaf marginal necrosis or burning.

Pruning: Pruning technique and frequency will largely depend on use.

Propagation: Softwood cuttings, stem air layering (very easy), seed.

Disease and Pests: Mealy bugs, spider mites, and scale are common problems when dwarf schefflera is grown in interior environments.

Additional comments: In Phoenix, this is a bold indoor container plant that can also grow in indoor atriums. There are numerous cultivated slections based on degrees of dwarfness and/or foliar variegation.

Some common cultivated selections include:

• 'Compacta' - dense clusters of dark green foliage, dwarf habit.
• 'Dazzle' - intense cream white variegation.
• 'Dwarf' - drak green foliage, dwarf to only 4 feet tall.
• 'Gold Caplla' - variegated yellow-gold variegation.
• 'Trinette' - cream foliar variegation.
• 'Variegata' -cream to yellow foliar variegation.

Taxonomic tidbits: The genus name Schefflera honors J.C. Scheffler, a 19th-century botanist from Danzig (Gdansk), Poland. The specific epithet arboricola means 'tree-like'.

Toxicological note: All parts of the plant contain calcium oxalate crystals, saponins and terpenoids that are toxic compounds for cats and dogs. For humans, dwarf schefflera is a low-severity poison and a skin irritant that might cause contact dermatitits.