On 17 Jun 2003 05:19:02 -0700, (Nina Shishkoff)
wrote:

Hello,

I have just acquired a rather odd looking plant which I believe to be
a bonsai. I have tried to find references to this particular species
with limited success. It appears to be a Pachira Aquatica or "Money
Tree". There are three trunks which spiral upward and weave together
as a braid.

I Googled it, and found that it was the same plant I see in local
nurseries sold as "lucky bean". It is in the bombacaceae, a tropical
family.

I don't know what's lucky about it. It's being marketed as a cheap
throwaway plant to give as a housegift. I suspect it is easy to
collect and germinate the seeds in mass quantities, and that explains
it.

Here's a picture of an adult-
http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/faculty...es/pac_aqu.jpg

stunning, and obviously, not bonsai material. But you might get a
decent houseplant out of it if you remove the braids. Braids are
fine (health-wise, not aesthetically) for plants that "meld" to
themselves, like figs, but I have no way of knowing if this is a
plant that will tolerate this kind of treatment, and no
self-respecting plant is braided, anyway.

Okay, thanks very much for the info. I suspected I would get an
answer similar to this one. Not a very good looking tree.

Dirty Harry