What houseplant is this?

[Davie]

Can anyone please tell me what I have here?

http://64.67.181.109/images/mysteryplant.jpgMy girlfriend brought this home from Home Depot for twenty bucks. It's nearly 8 feet tall. The conversation went something like this...

Me: "What's that?" Her: "I thought it would look nice in the living room." Me: "How do you take care of it?" Her: "Ummm... I dunno. Water it?"

So my first step is to figure out what the heck it is. My apologies if this is the wrong forum. Any help is greatly appreciated!

-Dave

[Alana Gibson]

Looks like Bird of Paradise (Strelitzia reginae) to me. There aren't too many web pages with good pictures of the whole plant, but I found one here:

[Tracey]

The ones out in my yard look similar to the one the OP posted, but there's no white striations in the leaves and they're (the leaves) are thicker. And, well, while I can't say for certain, I've done a lot of browsing in the houseplant sections of different stores and I don't ever recall a Bird of Paradise being sold as a houseplant. Maybe they just all got snapped up before I got there. :)

Tracey

[V_coerulea]

Definately looks like a Bird of Paradise whether a white (very tall) or Royal (medium tall) it's hard to tell. It's definately in the worng place as they need very bright light. And before flowering it most likely will be in a pot 2-3 times that size or more. They are related to the bananas. Gary

[onewaits]

When the ancient war dogs did battle on Fri, 18 Jul 2003 18:52:19 GMT, "Davie" did speak the following bit of wisdom:

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ You're in the right place. This looks like a "white bird of paradise" (Strelitzia nicolai) to me, especially since it was bought from Home Despot. They're pretty easy to look after, though it will probably never bloom for you, especially kept as a pot plant in the house.

Try this:

• * * * * Karen C. Southern CT / USDA Zone 6 Spammers be damned! I can't be emailed from this account...

"Gardeners know all the best dirt!"