Radermachera sinica

China Doll Plant, Serpent Tree, Emerald Tree

The China Doll plant is a compact, fast-growing evergreen tree from the subtropical mountain forests of southern China and Taiwan, where it can reach 30 metres in the wild — but indoors it settles into a dense, bushy shrub rarely exceeding 120 cm. It is grown almost entirely for its foliage: long, bipinnate (doubly compound) leaves composed of dozens of small, glossy, deeply veined leaflets each about 2–4 cm long, giving the plant an intricate, finely textured appearance quite unlike most broadleaf houseplants. In the right conditions it grows quickly and fills out well with pruning; left untrimmed it becomes leggy. It does best in bright indirect light — a few metres from a large south- or east-facing window — and consistently moist but not waterlogged soil. Its one significant quirk is a strong dislike of being moved or having its roots disturbed: expect a flush of leaf drop whenever the plant is relocated, which it recovers from in a few weeks once it has settled. Flowers — white, trumpet-shaped, and reportedly fragrant — appear in spring and early summer outdoors, but are rarely produced by indoor specimens.