isit some serissa species ?

Does it smell?

hmm when i did the repotting, i did notice some "smell" not a bad odour or rotting smell, but the whole bunch of soil seemed to emit a smell when i repot and changed the old soil off. Wonder if it helps ?

It sure looks like Serrisa! And by the way, there is only one species in the genus, Serrisa foetida (which, bearing on Kev's comments, means smelly.)

I'm 100% sure, that's a Serissa foetida. The word foetida means foetid odor of the leaves
when crushed.

thanks so much, its quite cheap and im attracted by the trunk, most of the bark has peeled off and its starting to get white. Maybe i will start reshaping and cleaning it up few weeks later after it has recover from the repotting.

Serrissa are very finicky. It is likely to completely defoliate after a repot. Sometimes they do this if you just change their location!

I had some for a few years but gave up on them eventually as too unpredictable for me, in cold and wet Welsh weather. Good luck with yours.

kev i think in singapore climate, they do quite well, the nurseries sells lotsa of these and they jus use the hose n water(flush) them and efw months later u go again and see, they r still doing very well. I guess its a matter of the climate ?

David Brunner wrote:It sure looks like Serrisa! And by the way, there is only one species in the genus, Serrisa foetida

The word is Serissa, one r, two s's. The correct name is Serissa japonica.
Iris

PS. The correct label does not guarantee that it will be any less temperamental.
Iris

bonsaisr wrote:

David Brunner wrote:It sure looks like Serrisa! And by the way, there is only one species in the genus, Serrisa foetida

The word is Serissa, one r, two s's. The correct name is Serissa japonica.
Iris

When (and why) did the name change, Iris? Or have we all been wrong these dozens of years?

I wish those %$#@ taxonomists would settle down. There's no need to change the name of a plant in a genus with only one species.

ok lately i hav no idea wats happening, but mani leaevs started to yellow n drop off, although im using 80%(river gravels+indo burnt gravels) and 20% volcanic pot mix, its pretty draining and doesnt retain moisture for long, but wonder why it yellowed and drop. Hmm very finicky indeed, although its yellowing, most areas are actually developing quite a few flower buds

Sixhunter, as you have heard, Serissa is finicky. They do best in warm humid environments – however, as Kev said, they dislike change, so if this were mine I would not disturb it further until it begins to recover. I was successful with Serissa here in San Francisco for years by keeping it in a warm and wind (fog…) sheltered corner. However, one particularly cool and foggy summer was too much for it – I have not tried again.

Thank you Iris for the correction! You are absolutely right. I typically research names before posting, but I did not this time and the poor information I provided demonstrates that.

Jim, you posed your question to Iris, and with the misinformation I provided you may find my response suspect, however I will still give it a stab:

In order to try to bring some consistency to the naming of plant species globally taxonomists have agreed upon a set of rules, the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature. A basic tenet of this document is that the oldest validly published name for a plant species is considered (with some exceptions) the valid name. In the case here we are dealing with two different names which are considered to be synonyms. I looked back into the taxonomic literature for the history of this situation.

The description for what we now refer to as Serissa foetida was made by Carl Linnaeus the Younger in 1781 in his publication Supplementum Plantarum, but he placed the species in the genus Lycium, which is part of the Solanaceae or Nightshade family not the Rubiaceae or Madder family to which Serissa actually belongs. Lamark and Poiret corrected this classification error in their publication Tableau encyclopédique et méthodique des trois regnes de la nature, Botanique in 1793 and thereby established the binomial Serissa foetida. However, another name for the plant was also validly published by the Swedish naturalist Thunberg in Nova Acta Regiae Societatis Scientiarum Upsaliensis in 1780, a year earlier than Linnaeus the Younger. Thunberg’s name was Lycium japonicum, which he corrected to Serissa japonica in 1798 in Nova Genera Plantarum.

From the dates, you can see how confusion around this name arose. The binomial Serissa foetida predates the binomial Serissa japonica by five years and would seem to be the valid name. However, the Code asks taxonomists to trace the publication of the specific epithet (the second name in the binomial) for precedence and validity – this means that japonica is the older name by one year and therefore the technically valid name.

I worked with many taxonomists for years and they are a fascinating bunch to say the least, combining an obsession with the new in their constant search for previously undescribed variation in the plant world and an immersion in the past through constant scouring of the taxonomic literature.

To many, taxonomy and systematic botany is just so much “bean counting” but without it the names of plants would soon descend into chaos with around a half a million species to be named individually.

I hope this was informative and not just so much blather…
David Brunner

I found it interesting David, thank you.

Thanks, David. I never mind reading something from anyone who knows what he or she is talking about. It seems to happen so seldom these days. <g>

The story of willow leaf fig is even more fascinating.
Iris

drastic pruning, will be potting into a round glazed pot when it recovers

This type is what we call over here Chinese Serissa, to distinguish it from the varieties that have developed in Japan (they have darker, more oval leaves, & larger flowers). I had one. I will be very surprised if it survives such drastic treatment, even in Singapore.
Keep us informed.
Iris

hopefully it does, i did such major pruning when i see it sprouting and flowering alot and most of its foliage hav recovered from last repot *crossfingers* haha

bonsaisr wrote:This type is what we call over here Chinese Serissa, to distinguish it from the varieties that have developed in Japan (they have darker, more oval leaves, & larger flowers). I had one. I will be very surprised if it survives such drastic treatment, even in Singapore.
Keep us informed.
Iris

well it did, and doing well, so im doing another more drastic move aka root pruning