It was an odd one. The shrubs had what seemed like green and red buds, bright yellow and red flowers, as well as green and luscious black berries.
It was our first encounter with the Ochna Kirkii and we couldn’t make it out. Dad would slow down the car each time he drove past two big shrubs.
Then one day, dad noticed something else. The car almost crawled to a stop as dad took a good long look. There were seedlings popping up near the shrubs!
That was years ago. The two seedlings that came home with us that day grew into strapping potted plants.
They threw out glossy bronze leaves and then bloomed. Finally we could unlock the mystery of the Ochna Kirkii for ourselves.
We observed how it bloomed and fruited; how it appeared to have both yellow flowers as well as red ones.
– pale green buds form
– flower blooms with five yellow petals and a green calyx
– petals fall leaving calyx which closes up like a bud once again
– calyx turns a peach color
– berries grow within on waxy base
– berries grow bigger while calyx turns red
– green berries turn into a glossy black
All the forms and colours can appear on the plant at the same time. An amazing sight.
I like it best when I see plump shiny black berries sitting on its rosy red pad. I think Mickey would agree.
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Care and propagation: partial to full sun; well drained fertile soil, water moderately. Propagate using seeds.
It doesn’t look like Mickey Mouse.
LOL – must use a lot of imagination, flo – i think they feel the black berries look like the ears. 😀
Your plant is very fertile. There are many berries on the plant. It is difficult to find a nursery that sells them.
Some flowers produce only 2 -3 black berries. Then it will look like Mickey’s big, black nose and eyes. The red protruding stamens look like his whiskers and the round red sepals at the corners look like his ears. If you aim your camera at certain angles, you can get a picture that look like MM.
hi autumn belle. i must go and have another look and see if i can spot mickey. 🙂
Hello Typicalgardener,
I am interested to know how long it takes for this plant to bloom from seedlings? I have two young plants grown from seeds. They have been growing slowly for about half a year or so and is about 1 foot tall now. One was taller, but because it grew linearly, I cut the top for the side branches to come up. Like your dad, I have been fascinated by this plant from the first time I saw the bushes !
hi sun ni. it blooms after about 2 years – worth the wait, i think. 🙂
Thanks….now I know. Time passes by fast these days, so 2 years not all that long …..just have to ensure my plants remain healthy. Yours look really beautiful. I just came across your blog yesterday. You have a great blog, and I enjoy reading it….thanks again,
thanks so much for your kind comments, sunniloh. do you have a blog?
My blog goes by “Shades of Grey” for the obvious reasons ! Please feel free to drop by anytime.
great! thanks for the information, sun ni!
i see more than one, sun ni. may i have the url, please. thanks so much.
On Mon, Jan 24, 2011 at 7:51 PM, Viola Chan wrote:
> great! thanks for the information, sun ni! > >
Thanks, we found the photo in Google images. We just noticed this plant in our garden in pasadena, under our pyracanthas, and had NO IDEA what it was. Never noticed it before, not watering it, think the flocks of birds that visit the pyracanthas each winter must have left it as a gift. Have never seen the yellow flowers, but now we will starting looking next blooming season. Another website says they are popular in Hawaii, native of South Africa, berries pressed for oil for hairdressing. Thanks for solving our mystery!
hi mike! tell us when it blooms. it is a lovely plant so the birds left a very nice gift!
hi. found the same plant near my house, i ask the owner to give me some stems in order for me to grow my own. unfortunately the stems dried up, i also took some of the black berry’s and planted it on a good soil. it’s been a week now but i don’t see any sprouts at all. can you please instruct me on how to grow this plant properly. i’ve been obsessed in growing my own mickey mouse plant since i first encountered it about a year ago. thank you very much and hope to hear from you.
a week’s too soon to tell. got to wait a bit longer for the germination, margarette. whereabouts do you live?
Philippines, manila in particular. thank you for a quick reply. i really really love this plant, fall in love with it the first time i saw one. i guess that’s why i’m a bit too anxious to see sprouts after a week
let us know when the seeds germinate, ok?
finally!! i was able to grow my own ochna kirki. took quite some time but it’s worth the wait
that’s wonderful! and how much more satisfying when you grow it from seed! congrats, margarette!
thank you. it really is very rewarding.
[…] Ref and suggested reading: http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl/record/kew-2398223 http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?312863 typicalgardener.wordpress.com/2010/10/17/ochna-kirkii-aka… […]
María Cruz Roldán, flower lover from Humacao, Puerto Rico
I’ve had this plant for so many years and Ive been searching for it’s name. It’s a wonderful plant, it brings joy to your seight. so amazing watching how it has that combination of red and yellow flower and black seeds. I have in a pot and carry it to where i move. I left one on my first home. I really love it and now I can name it. Some knows this plant by another name? A common name?
The common name is mickey mouse plant