I'm a yellowthumb today.

May 4, 2006 9:26 PM

Plantfilter: What is this fan-like plant and how can I keep it from not turning yellow?

Someone gave me this plant but has no idea what it is. I've been trying to identify it with random searches on Google, but it's a fool's errand. The closest I've come is thinking it was a daylily, minus the flowers, but it doesn't have the white crown that would indicate it was that plant.

Here are some pictures:

The entire plant

The bud of a new plant growing from an old leaf

As you can see, it seems to grow blade leaves in a row or axis, so that each section of it looks fan-like. I think I might have overwatered it, because many of the tips are turning yellow and emitting a brown sap. I was told that I could take the new leaf that's growing from the old leaf and plant it separately.

Given this information, is it possible to figure out what this plant is before I managed to murderalize it?

posted by Big Fat Tycoon to Home & Garden (12 answers total)

It's not a lost cause at all, just cut the damaged ends off the leaves and let it dry out some in the sun. No idea what it's called beyond "that spiky plant" tho, sorry.
posted by fshgrl at 10:50 PM on May 4, 2006

That looks like either the palms Catholics get on Palm Sunday, or possibly a Spider Plant (the picture on Wikipedia has prominent stripes, but not all spider plants have them).
posted by fvox13 at 10:52 PM on May 4, 2006

Response by poster: fvox13 -- definitely not a spider plant. Unless they're huge, the longest blades are close to 3 feet long.
posted by Big Fat Tycoon at 10:54 PM on May 4, 2006

Ah... yeah that would be a little large for a spider plant then. I saw the picture and thought "elementary school science fair!", where I used spider plants to determine if plant food really worked......

Not really an answer, but I wonder if browsing any of these Wikipedia categories will yield a result:

Agavaceae
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asparagales
posted by fvox13 at 11:14 PM on May 4, 2006

Looks like an iris to me.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 12:33 AM on May 5, 2006

It is definitely in the iris family (iridaceae). The key are the leaves that folded in half over one another, a characteristic called equitant.
posted by a22lamia at 3:39 AM on May 5, 2006

Response by poster: Iris is a possibility -- seems similar to the daylilies that I nixed, though. I don't think this had a rhizome, it seemed to have a fibrous root structure when I was replanting it. The "leaf bud" to me seems a huge clue, which I haven't seen mentioned in any iris webpages I've looked at. It is shooting out of a major leaf blade, long and thin and from a central core that runs up the stem. I've been told by the original owner that I can somehow take this and replant it and it'll grow a new plant. I don't know what the specific name of this kind of vegetative reproduction is, though, so it's hard for me to search on.
posted by Big Fat Tycoon at 5:24 AM on May 5, 2006

Response by poster: Also, at the base of the plant the leaves are growing from three separate "rows", all parallel to each other.
posted by Big Fat Tycoon at 5:25 AM on May 5, 2006

Are the brown spots at the ends of the leaves from over watering or not? I have the same problem with my "money plant" and don't know what's causing it.
posted by CunningLinguist at 6:37 AM on May 5, 2006

Gladiolus ?
The yellowing could be too much water or not enough light.
posted by banshee at 8:13 AM on May 5, 2006

Gladiolus is a member of the iris family. Crocus is in there, too.
You should know about iris borer.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 9:12 AM on May 5, 2006

UBC Botanical Gardens has a forum where you could ask. I've sought assistance from them before and found the people there really helpful.

The yellowing could be caused by any number of things - over watering, under watering, cold water, cold draughts, under/over fertilization, hard water.
posted by squeak at 9:17 AM on May 5, 2006