Toothed Lancewood
A bizarre and beautiful rarity from New Zealand, the Toothed Lancewood (Pseudopanax ferox) features strangely lizard-esque purplish brown juvenile foliage that grow at a downward angle from the central stem. They grow at snail’s pace and are mostly grown as containerized specimens here in the Northwest, as they are not fully cold hardy to all of our winters here. But folks on the Oregon Coast or down the coast of California should have good luck planting these in ground and letting them grow up to a full sized tree. Eventually the foliage changes from the purplish-brown elongated juvenile foliage to a wider green foliage, but most of us only ever get to see them in their juvenile form which is just fine because they are one of the oddest woody plants you’ll ever come across.
*Expect the plants you receive to be fairly tiny. They’re over a year old but grow incredibly slowly!*
Latin Name: Pseudopanax ferox
Site and Soil: Tolerant of many soil conditions so long as they are well draining
Hardiness: 15-20º Fahrenheit
Size at Maturity: 15-20′ tall eventually by about only 4-5′ wide on a skinny central trunk
Bloom Time: Summer
Pests & Diseases: None
USDA Zone: 8b