Plants With 5 Leaves Per Stem are different, yet their style is the same, if you are looking for plants that have five leaves, look no further as we will help you know all about the perennial plants that can be planted in all areas.
Most plants have single leaves and finding a leaf with five leaflets could be tough. These ornamental plants are used in arrangements and some even have medicinal value, keep reading all about them here in this article.
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List of Plants With 5 Leaves per Stem
In plants with five leaves, the leaves are attached to a common point. The five leaflets are part of a single leaf attached to a petiole. They are arranged in a spiral fashion one after the other. Let us take a look at 17 such plants.
1. Lagundi
Lagundi or Vitex negundo is a five-leaved plant that is also known by other common names such as the Chinese chaste tree, Horseshoe vitex and Nisinda. It grows near water bodies, grasslands and open forests. It mostly has five leaflets and very rarely, three leaflets.
Native to Africa and Asia, it has now been naturalized and is grown in many areas of the world. In different areas of South and Southeast Asia, it is used as a folk medicine for women’s diseases. It is known to have many antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.
2. Virginia Creeper
Virginia creeper or Parthenocissus quinquefolia is the most popular plant with 5 pointed leaves per stem. It is even known by names such as the Victoria creeper, five-leaved ivy, woodbine, American ivy and five-finger. Native to different parts of North and South America, it is now found all over the world.
This perennial creeper commonly takes the form of a woody vine growing along fences, walls, and trees. With no support, it takes a dense form covering the ground. It would thrive in full sun and can tolerate moderate shade. It is one such easy-to-grow houseplant with five leaves per stem that adds color and fragrance to a garden space.
Virginia creeper vines are often confused with poison ivy, poison oak and poison sumac but poison ivy has only three leaflets. Similar to the Victoria creeper, poison ivy has a reddish center where the leaflets join. Poison sumac or Toxicodendron vernix usually has 7 to 13 leaflets.
3. Five Leaf Akebia
Five-leaf akebia or Akebia quinata is a perennial, climbing vine belonging to the family Lardizabalaceae. Having a vanilla-like scent, it is a woody vine that grows purple flowers in spring. Its common names are the chocolate vine and five-leaf chocolate vine.
The chocolate vine is a vigorous grower and grows gorgeous blue-green leaves. It can live up to 20 years in proper growth conditions. Vanilla-scented, purple flowers grow a lot in warm winter regions with full sunlight. Avoid growing this creeper if your region has very cold winters.
4. Christmas Rose
Christmas rose or Helleborus Ivory Prince grows five leaves on its leathery stems. This plant is also introduced by other names such as the Lenten rose, Helleborus niger and Black hellebore. Its flowers resemble wild roses but it does not fall in the rose family.
The tips of its petals turn pink and green with a yellow center in winters. This plant grows actively from summer to fall and becomes dormant in extreme winter. It can have more than five leaflets too. It takes two to five years for the plant to mature.
5. Five-Fingered Aralia
Five-fingered aralia or Eleutherococcus sieboldianus is a flowering plant belonging to the family Araliaceae. Native to China and Japan, this ornamental plant is commercially available in North America. It can reach more than eight feet in height.
The five-fingered Aralia thrives in full sunlight to partial shade and needs well-draining soil to grow well. The plant does not belong to the Aralia family and remains like an erect, upright shrub. It has thorns, so plant it at a location that is not easily accessible.
6. Woodbine
Woodbine or Grape woodbine or Parthenocissus Vitaceae is a creeper with five leaves per stem belonging to the Vitaceae family. It is native to North America, it is a woody vine that produces small greenish flowers in clusters from late spring to summer.
Some of its common names include the Five-leaves ivy, Grape woodbine and False Virginia creeper. Its leaves and branches turn red in fall making the plant look stunning. An interesting point to note about this climber is that it is a fast grower and perfect for landscaping in outdoor gardens.
7. Pachira Aquatica
Pachira aquatica or the Money tree plant is a tropical wetland plant belonging to the Malvaceae family and native to South America. Some of its common names are the Malabar chestnut, Guiana chestnut, French peanut, Saba nut, Monguba and Provision tree.
This plant with five leaves is commercially sold by the name of Money plant or Money tree. Its trunk is often braided and sold as a houseplant. In the wild, this plant would easily reach up to a height of 60 feet.
8. Silk Cotton Tree
Silk cotton plant or Ceiba pentandra is a tropical plant belonging to the Malvaceae family. This plant was previously placed in the Bombacaceae family due to which it is also called the Bombay tree. It is native to different parts of South America, Africa and Asia.
Some common names of the Silk cotton plant are Bombax Ceiba, the Bombay tree, the Java cotton, the Java kapok and Samauma. This tree is meant for tropical, outdoor spaces as it can reach up to 240 feet in height in optimum weather conditions.
Bombax plants are known for cotton extraction. Their seeds are used for producing cotton. The long red flowers of this plant bloom from January to March before summer.
9. Purslane
Purslane or Portulaca oleracea is an annual weed succulent with five leaves per stem. It is grown in most home gardens for its pretty flowers that bloom in the morning sunlight. It is also known by the names fat weed, pigweed, little hogweed and pursley.
Purslane is a drought-tolerant plant that can survive poor soil conditions. The flowers would be able to blossom at any time of the year depending on the warmth and sunlight received. This weed contains 93 percent water, is loaded with nutrients and can be eaten raw or cooked.
With more than 40 cultivars grown, purslane is found all over the world in Africa, South Asia, Europe and America.
10. White Sapote
White sapote or Casimiroa edulis is a tropical fruit-producing tree with 5 leaves per stem. It belongs to the Rutaceae family and is native to parts of South America. Keep in mind thaat this plant’s fruit is known to lessen rheumatic pain and has worked well against colon cancer.
If you are looking for a tree with immense health benefits, try growing White sapote. It is also known by other names such as Casimiroa and Mexican apple. The tree is drought-tolerant but cannot withstand very cold temperatures.
11. Cinquefoil
Cinquefoil is an evergreen, shrubby plant belonging to the genus Potentilla. It is a hardy plant that is most often used as ground cover and border. It is also known by other names such as five fingers, silverweeds, tormentils and barren strawberries.
These plants look quite similar to strawberries but they have an inedible fruit. Some cinquefoil species have three leaflets while others can have as many as 15 leaflets. Their flowers come in yellow, white and red colors.
It is the gorgeous blooms that make this plant beautiful and a must-have. It grows vwey healthy when it is placed in full sunlight to partial shade in moist, well-draining soils. These hardy plants can tolerate both hot and cold temperatures.
12. Alstonia Angustifolia
Found in Southeast Asia, Alstonia angustifolia or Alstonia beccarii belongs to the Apocynaceae family. This perennial plant is also called Alstonia latifolia, Pulai Penipu Paya and Red-leaved pulai. It has five whorled leaves that grow on gray-brown stems.
The plant does not get too tall and has lance-shaped leaves and white fragrant flowers. The scented flowers make the plant a must-have in home and public gardens.
13. Boxelder
Boxelder or Acer negundo is a fast-growing maple tree species native to North America. It is also called the Box elder maple, the Manitoba maple and ash-leaved maple. Typically, there are three to seven leaves on a petiole. The bright green, lance-shaped leaves are its distinct feature.
Boxelder trees grow in swamps and wet areas that receive a lot of rainfall. You can spot them by their V-shaped leaf scars and lateral buds. These trees are often short-lived due to their brittle wood and boxelder bug infestations that vigorously eat up the tree.
14. 5 Leaf Poison Ivy
5 leaf poison plant or Toxicodendron radicans gets its name because of the itchiness it causes on the skin upon contact. If you ever come in contact with five leaf poison ivy leaves, immediately clean the affected area by applying vinegar or alcohol.
Wash your shoes and clothes properly to prevent future exposure. It is easy to mistake this plant for Virginia creeper due to their similar foliage. But look out and differentiate between the two by closely looking at their leaves.
Identify poison ivy by its three to seven compound leaves. Most often, there are just three leaves only with the middle leaflet being the longest of all.
15. Aster
If you are in search for a flowering plant that has five leaves per stem, aster is a wonderful option that you can consider growing in your garden. It is a perennial flowering plant belonging to the Asteraceae family.
These plants produce gorgeous blooms in white and purple colors when grown in well-composted soil and full sunlight. Their flowers attract a lot of beneficial pollinators such as birds, bees and butterflies.
16. Boston Ivy
Boston ivy is a low-maintenance creeper that can grow and climb upon walls in both shade and full sunlight. Its name comes from the fact that this creeper can be found growing on the walls of Ivy League institutions.
Boston ivy is a perennial vine that needs to be pruned regularly. If left unpruned, it can damage walls, wood and roofs on whatever surface it grows on. Since it is an invasive plant, you might want to grow it with caution in spaces where it does not take up the space required by other plants.
These creepers produce small, greenish white flowers in summers. A mature Boston ivy plant can reach up to 50 feet in height. Therefore, it is better to grow them in containers or areas where you do not want to grow other plants. It is, however, highly poisonous to humans and animals, which means you must keep them away from children and pets.
The five leaflets of Boston ivy are less prominent than other creepers and plants and it is a preferred choice for ground cover. Some other names of Boston ivy are the Grape ivy and Japanese ivy.
Conclusion
Five-leaf plants are fantastic choices for ornamental arrangements due to their unique looks. Most of these are poisonous plants but due to their pretty foliage, people grow them in gardens. Just be careful while growing some invasive and toxic plants.
We hope our article will help you with better plant identification and you will try growing these beauties too. Now that you know about all such plants with five leaves per stem, which plant would you like to grow?
