This is a plant grown in parts of S America, Africa and a few other places. The natives chew the leaves for a lift similar to coffee. The leaves contain various alkaloids plus some protein, vitamins and minerals so they are healthful. My bushes are producing berries so I tried sprouting them. Here are a few of the sprouts



The large seedling is only about a month older than the next biggest which is only about a week older than the smallest. They grow fairly fast. I'll do updates on their progress if anyone is interested.

Legality

E. novo is legal in the USA and most parts of the world. It is in a slightly gray area in much the same way as some other plants like san pedro, for example. It's legal to possess s pedro but if you do an extraction, you could get into trouble. Likewise with e novo. Just enjoy it for it's beauty and to preserve the species and no problem.

I'd very much like one if I had the money, but alas, I can't!!!

PM sent

Very nice Stoney!! Have you seen any critters at work pollinating them?

I see an occasional bee on them and the usual wasps which have almost taken the place of bees. I use to hand pollenate them but nature seems to have taken over. E novo is easier to take care of than e coca, from what I've heard.

What sort of climate do you have it in? How is it best care for? Soil conditions???

It likes warm temps, take it in when it gets below about 55f. Standard loose soil will work. It does not like full sun and you should gradually acclimate it to any change. Sun in a window through glass and a screen is OK but don't put it there right away if it's used to dim light. Give it an hour or two of sun the first day, three or four the second day and more the third day. Fert them every so often but don't try to make them dark green. They are naturally lime green.

Awesome!

So it sounds like it makes a pretty decent house plant?

I seriously just love growing plants!

This reminds me of the type of plant some 1800s business man botanist smokin' a wooden pipe would look at...

Here is a photo of one of my larger plants. You can see flowers on it. This one is a little over a year old. I try to water mine with rainwater since they don't like a lot of calcium which is found in abundance in city water systems. City water is also kind of high in ph and novo likes a ph around 6 or even a little lower.

That's really awesome!

How long did it take to get that size?

I believe it was a little under 2 years when the pic was taken. It's not as big as it looks, the flowers are less than 1/2" long, maybe a cm.

Wow two years! Nice!

Those flowers are small, whoa...

Does it make a pretty good house-plant? If I ever got one I'd have to keep it inside during the winter.

Is there anyway to make cuttings of these guys?

Let's say I chopped the top off one of those, what the best way to get it to grow roots and continue growing? Any ideas?

I've never been able to root a cutting. I've heard that thick cuttings, over 1/8", will root but never had any that that thick I wanted to try. If the bottom has any leaves it may grow back.

What would be the best way to root the top?

And what will happen if the bottom has no leafs?