Can you identify this adopted plant?
We adopted a very large plant from the previous homeowners and have no idea what it is or how to take care of it. We did trim it back some and re-potted to make it more manageable. She had it for 30 years, I’d hate to inadvertently kill it now. Thanks for your help!
Hi Nicole,
Your plant looks like a Ficus Alii tree, or Amstel King tree as it is sometimes called. A Ficus Alii tree is closely related to the Ficus Benjamina Tree, the Alii variety is much more tolerant and forgiving. A Ficus Alii tree rarely sheds leaves, tolerates lower light, and allows you to move it around without going into shock. A Ficus Alii does grows about 25% slower than a Ficus Benjamina. Here’s a picture of a healthy Ficus Alii
Amstel King
These plants are considered poisonous and should be kept away from pets and children. Read more about common houseplants that are poisonous in Don’t Feed Me To Your Cat! A Guide to Poisonous Houseplants.
You can read all of my tips on how to grow a ficus Alii in the Popular Houseplant section of the website.
https://www.houseplant411.com/houseplant/ficus-alii-how-to-grow-care
Your ficus looks like it could benefit from a product called SuperThrive that you can read about in the Glossary of the website. It does wonders for plants under stress.