The very common one like this is Magnolia grandiflora 'Little Gem'.

and that is a very big tree.. in a very small pot.. and i would bet the potting media has failed wildly ... the stuff doenst last forever ...

probably time to plant it in mother earth.. or at least repot it..

good luck

ken

Sure looks like a potted schefflera to me. I notice you are zone 10, and it would be a houseplant in my zone. If the leaves are in a whorl (which they appear to be in this pic) it's not a magnolia.

Simple leaves with short petioles and brown hair beneath. And a different branching pattern, there is nothing about it like a schefflera.

does it matter???

is it supposed to be that brown.. its evergreen either wya isnt it??

and it looks like it has been repeatedly topped ... and poorly pruned ...

if it were me.. i would, well.. figure out what it is.. lol.. then figure out if i could root some pieces..

and upon doing such successfully .. i would get rid of the rest.. it has served its purpose ... and had a very long life.. but it is way past its prime.. and time to go ...

good luck.. whatever you decide to do with it ...

ken

Southern magnolia is pruning tolerant, gotten out of the pot and into the ground it could perfectly well fill back in, replace the lopped tips.

Thanks guys! Yea, this was a tree that was left by the original owners when I moved in about 6 years ago. It was actually in a larger wood-bound container. Then my father-in-law helped me prune it and transplant it into the ground. I've been digging up my yard as of late and decided to remove it before deciding whether or not I wanted to get rid of it or move it to another location in my yard. But based on the last response, I think I'm going to get rid of it. The leaves will make for a nice addition to the compost pile though!

Thanks for the tips!

Even in the ground it wasn't doing very well. I wasn't that active in making sure the yard was watered. But I've been uprooting everything in the yard anyway just to clear things out. I think it's just time for this one to go. Now that I remember, I actually seem to recall there being small white flowers that budded. But they didn't last for very long :)

That's a Magnolia grandiflora, probably 'Little Gem ', as bboy suggests. Too bad, they make a very nice little tree, reaching over 20 feet tall and covered with highly fragrant flowers in the spring.

Ok, I know magnolias and also schleffleras, so what is everyone else seeing I am not. Perhaps it's my monitor but I don't see any petioles, nor can I tell from the picture if that is a simple leaf or a a leaflet from a plant with a whorled pattern. I see no individual leaves at all in the photograph anywhere other than on the branch tips and they appear to all radiate from a central point. Neither is any size reference given in the OP. I'm sure the consences is correct, especially given the brown undersides of the leaf....a typically magnolia trait. I just feel stupid because everone else 'got it' and it zinged right over my head in a major way. Embarassing, since I made my living at growing nursery stock for twenty some years. rofl.

Are you getting the two close-up shots?

Thank you for asking. I thought maybe I needed to start taking Ginko or have my eyes examined or something. It doesn't help that today is my birthday and I'm feeling particularly decrepit. I see two pictures of leaves right in the post, but no hairiness at all, and I just figured it had been snipped off the petiole because I don't see one of those either. Could be I need to wash my monitor screen. (crawling back under rock, cringing with shame) ;-)

Ya know I was gonna guess Magnolia virginiana. Are you all sure that's not what it is? The leaves personally look too small and non-glossy to be grandiflora.

Magnolia virginiana doesn't have a fuzzy texture on the lower surface. Nor is the lower surface brown.

There are many unique cultivars of Magnolia grandiflora. "Little Gem " is just one of several of the (so called) dwarf varieties. The leaves are just the right size for "Little Gem". The brown fuzz is easy to miss from a photograph.....the texture is almost more like suede than fuzzy or hairy.

Calliope, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, girlfriend! Hey, you're allowed to miss one now and then! It sure doesn't bother me when I guess wrong. "Little Gems" are a dime a dozen in the deep South, making it an easy ID for me.

Come out with a new one, call it 'Little Dime'.

Sweetbay is silvery white underneath, has thinner leaves that flutter in the breeze, make the tree look like a flashing school of fish.

Calliope, the problem with this tree is that it has managed to lose most of the leaves on the stems. They aren't supposed to do that. All that is left are the newest leaves and they are always spaced closer together at the top than further down the stem. It's easy to see why you'd mistake those clusters for compound leaves.

Bboy, that new dwarf mag must be really new! I can't find anything on it. Is it a grandiflora? And what a perfect description for the sweetbay!!

Thanks for the b'day wishes, gal. Naw it doesn't bother me to be wrong, either. I enjoy that liberty more than occasionally. I am just thankful that I didn't argue it. Now that would have be embarrassing. LOL I just rather not contribute than offer mis-leading opinions. I take so much more away from this forum than I contribute to it and have learnt so much. It's a very valuable resource to have a 'collective' of minds about things tree. And, I'm woefully ignorant about any tree I can't grow in my own zone. Little Dime. LOL. Yes. Have never seen a Little Gem around here. But then again I tend to plant the big honking magnolias. Only have one grandiflora, and it's an Edith Bogue on steroids. Man, she's a honker for being so young.