Whew! That looks rough, Jeanette! It looks like the red one is a little more shaded than the green one--did the green one miss a watering or two in this last hot, dry period? My limited experience with them is that they have no forgiveness, when it comes to watering in a container!

It's been allowed to dry out badly.
Also, this is a tree which needs to spread its roots and not be bound by such a tiny pot - if you want to keep it potted get it into a larger one asap.

Pots need to be at least 2' diameter and 2' deep for most plants to survive - this plant has been suffocated in there.

Have you scraped the bark to see if the plant is still alive ?
If it is repot it or ideally plant it out immediately, give it regular good soakings and it'll come back to life.

The bobbly texture is also on my own plant and doesn't harm the plant at all.

I'm interested in your 'odd bobbled appearance' re the branches - any chance of a close up of that? I'm wondering if its got Coral Spot...

With mine i think it's the damage from frosts, water getting under the bark etc, will look up Coral Spot now
;-)

Just looked in my book and it's not C.S. :-)

Hmm, but it might be on Jeanette's...

True.

Eeek!! Coral Spot sounds nasty,(I just checked my Dr Hessayon "pest & weed" manual!)....am going to take a closer pic to see if these bobbles are this problem.
I don't think it was caused by drought cos I grow lots of plants in pots and the red-leaf cousin has had exactly the same light/shade/feeding/watering as this plant - and he is 6+ years old and doing well. It happened so suddenly, usually with drying out there is gradual noticeable "wilting"....??
Thanx for your comments peeps! :-)

I took a closer foto of the trunk of this plant earlier - can't find out how to put it on here...technology not my strong point!
I think you could be right Bamboo :-)

Pic's a bit blurry, but it sure looks like Coral Spot to me, and if the photo in your gallery that you've posted shows the base of the plant with the Coral Spot, its a goner I'm afraid - remove it and burn if you can, otherwise bag and send to the recycling, don't try to compost any parts yourself.
Wash and sterilise the container if you want to reuse it, get rid of the compost it was growing in, and not on the borders or garden either - Coral Spot is caused by a fungus, and usually only affects poorly or dead plants, so your tree was probably weak and sickly anyway.

Thanx bamboo, those bobbles are all over most stems, (more pinkish than the ones on the base I got in the foto),cheers for the advice - I would still buy another one tho and hope I have better luck next time! :-)