I just bought a Travesia palmata--the "snowflake tree". I know very little about this plant, and I'm curious if anyone has experience growing it.

I saw the plant locally first at the Dry Garden in Oakland, for $15 a couple weeks ago. I just found it on this side of the bay for $13.98 and decided I "needed" it. I bought it at Golden Nursery in San Mateo, CA. In both cases, the plants came from the wholesaler San Marcos Growers, in 1 gallon pots.

Here's my plant. I think it maybe got a little too much sun at the nursery. It does not appear burnt or damaged.

According to San Marcos Growers description (link at bottom) they sell both seedlings of the species and rooted cuttings of the selection 'Micholitzii'. I assume this is a seedling. One can see how each successive leaf becomes more and more finely divided. In an older plant the leaves should be spectacular.

The plant has small thorns/spines (I'm not sure I know the distinction).

Since I was taking pictures of a different plant, Cussonia transvaalensis, I decided to take one of them together. Cussonia also has snowflake-like leaves. Both are from the family Araliaceae, so the similarity is not accidental.

I bought the Cussonia this summer at Annie's Annuals in Richmond for $5.50.

Trevesia palmata on the left, Cussonia transvaalensis on the right.

San Marcos Growers seems to disagree with itself on its webpage, and on the label on the plant, whether it is a low moisture, medium moisture, or high moisture plant. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

The plant appears to come from reasonably low elevation in Vietnam, so I'm a little surprised that it can grow outside in the Bay Area. Here are those data:

http://www.tropicos.org/Name/2201545?tab=specimens

Glasshouse Works is maybe also selling the plant, the Micholitzii clone. They say in one place they are $40 and not available. They say in a second place that they are $10 and available. Here's the link; I'll repeat it at the bottom:

http://www.hobbyplants.com/monthlyplants.html

(I take it this link will change from month to month, so if they are not there in the future, that's why)

Are the ones with the white borders on the leaves a different Trevesia species? I thought I saw something to that effect.

The list of specimens in Tropicos gives elevations ranging from 120-1100 m. Is that in the mountains? Maybe extending into modest elevations, or something? Still, that elevation in the tropics would still be considered lowland tropical, I think. Or close to it. Isn't 1000 m a typical cutoff?

I have seen reports that the plants can handle cool frost-free (or nearly frost-free) climate.

In an old post, you identified the white edged plant as Trevesia burckii. Is this incorrect?