Host an Event Volunteer Join Tickets

Your gift keeps resources like this database thriving!

Q. Who is Mr. Smarty Plants?

A: There are those who suspect Wildflower Center volunteers are the culpable and capable culprits. Yet, others think staff members play some, albeit small, role. You can torture us with your plant questions, but we will never reveal the Green Guru's secret identity.

Help us grow by giving to the Plant Database Fund or by becoming a member

Did you know you can access the Native Plant Information Network with your web-enabled smartphone?

Ask Mr. Smarty Plants

Ask Mr. Smarty Plants is a free service provided by the staff and volunteers at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.

Search Smarty Plants
See a list of all Smarty Plants questions

Please forgive us, but Mr. Smarty Plants has been overwhelmed by a flood of mail and must take a break for awhile to catch up. We hope to be accepting new questions again soon. Thank you!

Need help with plant identification, visit the plant identification page.

 
rate this answer
Not Yet Rated

Monday - December 01, 2008

From: Smithville, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Plant Identification
Title: Identification of Canopy Plant
Answered by: Barbara Medford

QUESTION:

I recently adopted a large house plant from a neighbor who moved away. He called it a 'Canopy Plant', but I'm having no luck with that name when I search for care tips. It seems to be in poor health, almost completely defoliated. It is 5 or 6 feet tall, with a 3inch trunk all green color, and has some very rose-like thorns all the way from soil level up the single trunk, then spreads out with 3 or 4 thin limbs about 4 feet up. Heavily armed with these thorns. Do you have any idea what this plant is and how to care for it? Very unusual..thanks!

ANSWER:

Sorry, we had no luck locating a plant of this common name, either. We did find a couple of really funny, tongue-in-cheek (we hope!) websites saying that the Canopy Plant was a neogen transforming plant with bionano capabilities that is dropped from planetary orbit. Not.

Perhaps someone here can identify your plant from a picture, and then we can try to find some information for you (real information).  Here are instructions for sending Mr. Smarty Plants a photo of your mystery plant:

Plant Identification

Need help with a plant ID? Send us an email following the instructions below.

1. Tell us where and when you found the plant and describe the site where it occurred.

2. Take several high resolution images including details of leaves, stems, flowers, fruit, and the overall plant.

3. Save images in JPEG format.

4. Send email with images attached to [email protected]. Please enter Plant ID Request on the subject line of your email.

 

 

 

 

 

 

More Plant Identification Questions

Plant identification of vine with fluffy-seeded pod
July 05, 2013 - I saw a fluffy seeded pod on our hike this morning. I have seen this vine before, but do not know the proper and scientific name of it. Its leaves appear to be opposite and heart shaped. Could it be a...
view the full question and answer

Identification of plant that looks like a spider plant
February 25, 2008 - Okay Mr. Smarty Pants, I have an identification for you. I have no pictures, but I've been staring at this plant for weeks trying to figure out what it is. I got it as a cutting from a friend who got...
view the full question and answer

Plant identification
August 22, 2011 - I have a rather large berry growing on a tree-like bush in my back yard here in Williamsville Vermont, I've never seen anything like it! I have a picture.
view the full question and answer

Native plants for Ohio with common name beginning with U, X or Z
October 13, 2010 - Hi Mr. Smarty Plants, Are there any plants native to Ohio or the Northeast that have common names starting with the letter "U" "X" or "Z"? I'm sewing a cross-stitch sampler using the alphabet ...
view the full question and answer

Plant ID from Cocoa FL
April 18, 2014 - I am trying to identify a plant that looks like a rose bush. It has rose-like thorns. The leaves are green, slender, acute at the tip, slightly unequal at the base and the leaf stem grows closer to ...
view the full question and answer

Support the Wildflower Center by Donating Online or Becoming a Member today.