Dumb Cane or Chinese Evergreen??

So, I thought I had a dumb cane until I was looking in a house plant book today and saw one with leaves that looked exactly like mine. It was called an aglaonem crispum 'silver queen'. Now I'm not sure what I have. I had looked through the plant files and thought my "dumb cane" was Dieffenbachia x bausei. I have a picture, you can't see the leaves very well, but the one in the back you can sort of. Sorry, its the only picture I have. But, from the pic you can see it has gotten very tall and I thought the stem looks like a dumb cane.....from what I've read 'siver queen' is a low growing plant. Can anyone help, I'm confused now!

Thanks in advance

Kristie

Kristie: Can you post a photo of the top of the leaf?

Unfortunatley I can't, at least not right away. I had borrowed a digital camera to take that picture earlier this year, and I don't have one right now. If I can get ahold of one I will though....it's driving me nuts!

It really is hard to tell from your photo whether it's a diffenbachia or aglaonema. Maybe you can look at some of these photo's in Plant Files and compare to your plant to determine an ID.

Diffenbachia (Dumb Cane): http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/adv_search.php?searcher%5Bcommon%5D=dumb+cane&searcher%5Bfamily%5D=&searcher%5Bgenus%5D=&searcher%5Bspecies%5D=&searcher%5Bcultivar%5D=&searcher%5Bhybridizer%5D=&search_prefs%5Bblank_cultivar%5D=&search_prefs%5Bsort_by%5D=rating&images_prefs=both&Search=Search

Aglaonema (Chinese Evergreen): http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/adv_search.php?searcher%5Bcommon%5D=&searcher%5Bfamily%5D=&searcher%5Bgenus%5D=aglaonema&searcher%5Bspecies%5D=&searcher%5Bcultivar%5D=&searcher%5Bhybridizer%5D=&search_prefs%5Bblank_cultivar%5D=&search_prefs%5Bsort_by%5D=rating&images_prefs=both&Search=Search

Ok, here's a pic from the plant files of the dumb cane I thought I had.....

And here's a pic of a chinese evergreen that looks like mine(although the one in the book was silver queen, this one is cory)

See, they both look the same to me.... I can't tell. In the plant files it says that the chinese evergreen only gets 18-24 inches tall...the dumb cane can get 3-6 ft....I'd bet mine are around the 18 inch mark, so that doesn't help....I took cane cuttings from my "dumb cane" and they sprouted...oh, just read that you propagate chinese evergreen by dividing rhizomes, corms, tubers, etc......it must be the dumb cane because it just has roots.....I think it is a dumb cane then!

I have the Aglaonema 'Cory' and that is my photo from Plant Files with some other writing over top of my copyright. I see the photo of the Diff is from Plant Files also with writing covering the name of the owner of that photo. I'm not sure how you were able to do that, but some folks would get very upset about someone using their copyrighted photo without permission.

I have no idea if your plant is a Diffenbachia or Aglaonema, without seeing a close up of your leaves or stems. I guess you will have to decide by comparing it to other photo's or maybe you could take it to a nursery in your area and someone there would be able to ID it for you. I think leaves of the Dumb Cane are usually wider than the Chinese Evergreen but I don't know that for certain.

I hope you get a correct ID for your plant so that you will be able to find the proper care.

You can also propagate Aglaonema by stem cuttings, just like the Diffenbachia.

kls--I'm guessing you saved the pics on your hard drive from Plant Files and then posted them here? It's better to just post a link to the Plant Files entry, otherwise your copyright gets slapped on over top of the copyright of the person the pic really belongs to, and you can get yourself in trouble that way. Not just with pics from DG, but pics that you find on other sites too it's always better to put in a hyperlink to the page where the picture lives rather than posting a pic that doesn't belong to you.

My humble opinion is that it's an Aglaonema....one of the 'old standard' ones, though I honestly don't know it's ID (and I have what I think is this same one, myself!)

I know they're difficult to tell apart these days with all the 'new' Dieffenbachia cultivars that are out there, but one thing I've noticed in my own research is that you don't usually see 'silver' patterns/mottling on Dieffenbachias, though you do on Aglaonemas. Your plant shown above has some silver 'patterning' on it's leaves, doesn't it?

I also think that the first picture above that you'd stated you got from the PF is an Aglaonema and not a Dieffenbachia.....I could definitely be wrong about that....just my opinion.
D. x bausei has white spots interspersed on the foliage...the one shown doesn't show any evidence of white spots, at least not to my eyes!

This is a photo of the 'real' D. x bausei

http://www.nparks.gov.sg/nursery/uploadfiles/dieffenbachiabausei01whole.JPG

Well, first off I'm sorry about the copyrighting thing. I wasn't trying to use the pics as my own.....I'm so sorry. Ecrane, that's what I did...I was just trying to figure out how to get the pic from there to here.....I shoulda posted a link. Sorry. I didn't realize that when I posted it, it would cover up the copyright with other writing. I was just trying to get both pics on one page so they could be seen side by side...if I'd known it was against the copyright I wouldn't have done it. I thought that sending you the link to it and posting the pic would be the same thing. I'm sorry.

Nan...my plant doesn't have any white spots...and yes, it does have the mottling. It looks just like those two pics I've stolen which, by the way here are the links

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/83420/ The first picture of the dumb cane was taken by giancarlo

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/168627/and the second picture by plantladylin....sorry, I hope you're not mad, I really didn't understand what I was doing!

A few other people have done that in the past, and it's usually innocent....just best to post a link instead of another person's photo.

I was talking about Giancarlo's photo....I don't think it's a Dieffenbachia, I think it's an Aglaonema, and I think yours is too.

I'm thinking mine is too now...but, on the plant files it said that the chinese evergreens had corms, bulbs, tubers....etc, and I'm pretty sure that mine just has roots(sorry, I'm not a well versed gardener yet!). How weird that I've thought I've had a dumb cane for the past year, and now I find out it probably isn't! It's like finding out your child isn't really yours or something! Thanks for the help!

Kristie

lol...I know what you mean...and it really *is* hard to tell the new Dieffenbachia cultivars from the newer Aglaonema cultivars.

As for the bulb/rhizome/tuber thing....references do say that Aglaonemas are rhizomatous, but all I've ever seen on any of mine are roots, too......I'll have to do some research on rhizomes and their 'properties'!

I should try to get a photo of mine (the one I think looks like yours) and let you compare yours to it.
I'd hate to have you believe it's an Ag if it's truly not....but that is my opinion.

I'll try to get that photo over the weekend. My slow computer takes so long to upload them that I won't have time to work on it 'til then.

Kristie: Here's a pic of the "Mama" Dumb Cane that I butchered a couple of months ago and the rooted plants I got from her! Mama is the largest one in the terra cotta colored pot in the back left.

Nan, thanks so much for the help! I am beginning to think you're right that it is an Ag...and don't worry if its not. Either way I thought I had something that maybe I didn't. I've noticed in stores that all the dumbcanes don't look exactly like mine...but I got it from my mother, so I figured maybe it was just an older variety. I'm not sure how long she'd had it, but she told me it was a dumb cane so that's just what I thought it was. I wish I had a digital camera now so I could just take a pic of the leaf and then we'd know for sure. I'll see what I can do about getting ahold of one too.....

Lin, what a beautiful family portrait! Yours have grown much better than mine did....but mine has stayed in the shade....I wasn't sure how much sun they should get. I suppose once they got roots they maybe shoulda gotten more sun?

Ok, now I'm even more confused...I googled aglaonema 'silver queen'(the pic in the book I found like mine) and aglaonema 'cory'....the 'cory' I found doesn't look like yours Lin. I'm confused now. I was trying to figure out why I thought 'silver queen' looked like mine and then that 'cory' looked like mine as well.....

Here are the links to the pics(no more stolen pics!)

silver queen: http://www.wschowa.com/abrimaal/araceum/aglaonema/squeen.htm
cory: http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.southerntropicals.com/galleries/aglaonema/thumbnails/Aglaonema%2520Cory_jpg.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.southerntropicals.com/galleries/aglaonema/index.htm&h=100&w=80&sz=4&hl=en&start=1&um=1&tbnid=mRnCMVZVUchdtM:&tbnh=82&tbnw=66&prev=/images%3Fq%3Daglaonema%2B%2527cory%2527%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dopera%26rls%3Den%26sa%3DN

I swear, I am horrible at this!

Thanks for the help

Kristie

Edited to fix my links....

This message was edited Oct 4, 2007 4:01 PM

Okay, in desperation I plucked a leaf off the plant and scanned it. Hope this helps.....it's a little dark, hopefully you can see the mottling....

Looks like Aglaonema to me.

Thanks! Aglanoma it is then.....thanks for the help!

Kristie

I'd definitely agree with that!

Wow, now I'll just have to get over thinking its a dumb cane.....I've been jonesing over a chinese evergreen, and the whole time I had one! Now I guess I'll have to go out and buy a real dumb cane! Thanks for the help!

Kristie