Someone cut and trashed this pretty young tree in July of last year. I brought it home to take pictures in the hopes of learning more about it. It has a small, distinct, membranous pith (not hollow or chambered). There was a sweet, somewhat minty smell to the cross sections. The leaves are smooth, shiny and grow in rings of 6. The bark is a sandy brown with small warts that gives way in streaks to a smooth, shiny green in the smaller, younger branches. Thanks for any help with an ID.
Looks like a Schefflera sp. Schefflera are often grown as house plants but can also be grown outdoors in mild areas. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schefflera http://images.google.co.uk/images?q...GB&redir_esc=&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?i...b:IE-ContextMenu&rlz=1I7SUNA_en-GB&tbs=isch:1
That makes sense. We have S. actinophylla all over around here as trees up to about 4m in height, and I see them often. They always seem to have 8 leaves ("octopus tree" and all), so I thought that was a set rule, but looking up a few, I see that S. arboricola alone can have between 7 and 9 leaves, and there are quite a number of species in the genus. Looks like it's Schefflera sp. Thanks!
Unfortunately, everything has long since wilted away, as it's been almost a year since I happened upon the branch. Good to know for the future, though. Thanks.