I am new member here and need help with identification of this aroid. I grow several aroid species, but would not consider myself aroid hobbyist. I found this plant as seedling in a ditch behind my old house in north Florida (Tallahassee area). There were hundreds that grew wild, and adult one almost 2m tall or so nearby. It is now almost 4 years old and flowered this spring (forgot to photograph it), seedling has sprouted under it. Leaves are glossy dark green and about 56cm long on 50cm stems, plant is about 102cm tall on short trunk. Leaves sometimes killed by cold, but stems and trunk survive and plant not die to ground. I would guess this is species of Alocasia, but which one? Must be species that is naturalised in north Florida. I know Colocasia esculentum and Xanthosoma sagittifolium are wide naturalised in my area, but they are different. It resembles Alocasia macrorrhizza a little, but not exact - the leaves turn horizontal once mature and look slightly different. Also mature plant I saw did not resemble mature A. macrorrhizza I see.
Okay, this is peltate or the stem attaches a bit into the leaf, not at a leaf margin. Two, no collective vein around the leaf's rim. All that means to me is that it is not Xanthosoma sagittifolium. Other than that, peltate leaves probably means it's Colocasia spp. Iffy on whether the leaves point up or down, but up would probably be Alocasia. After that, I got nuttin.
I do not know if it help, but every adult one of these I have seen in wild is solitary (not seem to clump), so this would seem typical of species, not only mine. To re-examine it, the leaves seem to point up slightly, but definitely new leaves point up for awhile before they become more horizontal.
Don't fret. There are some real aroid fanciers on here who will narrow it down for you. So in my surfing the last half hour or so, peltate might be pushing us more to Alocasia, as you thought it might be. Which one is still the question. Are these leaves a bit stiffer, or are they floppy? As in more cabbage or more lettuce leaf texture? Have you checked out Central FL farms page on Alocasias? Commercial site, but they have a few pics of different alocasias, including A. macrorrhiza about a third of the way down this page. http://www.centralfloridafarms.com/alocasias.htm
Thanks for link! Leaves are leathery and slightly stiff. A. macrorrhiza and A. odora resemble it but the wild ones here are non-clumping and not much larger than 2m. The leaves in photo are about one year of growth (photo taken last week). According to link, A. marcrorrhiza grows fast and I am not sure if 5-6 leaves per year is fast for Alocasia or not. USDA show both A. macrorrhiza and A. odora naturalised in Florida, but not my county. No reports may only mean no one has looked. It is not so common as Colocasia and Xanthosoma here, but still invasive.
Have you looked up Alocasia gageana? First guess without seeing an inflorescence would be that species. This could possibly be a juvenile Alocasia odora as well. You should be able to see the collective vein THANROSE mentioned running around the circumference of the leaf blade. A collective vein is common to Anthurium, Syngonium, Alocasia and other genera. Look just about 1/8th inch from the leaf margin and you should see a vein that runs around the blade and where all the major veins end. Have you ever seen a stem growing at the base of the plant with nodes and internodes? Have you ever seen an inflorescence? If you'll post a good closeup photo of both the upper and lower blade surfaces the chances are good it can be identified. LariAnn is the best on this forum for Alocasia species since she has worked with the genus for many years. Chances are she'll be along.
IMHO, this plant is definitively A. odora. When young, they grow mostly as solitary plants. Only when quite mature will they have one or more pups, and often they are not pups per se, but side shoots growing off the main stalk. Mature specimens of A. macrorrhizos do not have any peltate characteristics to the leaves. The "wild" type of A. macrorrhizos that is commonly found in Florida will also develop numerous cormlets and pups. Additionally, the wild A. macrorrhizos is not going to bloom in your area; even down here in extreme south Florida, the wild type does not bloom. If you remember what the inflorescence looked like when you saw them, they should have been a matte bluish-green in appearance, and the spathe should have remained erect through both female and male anthesis. These observations will confirm that this plant is indeed A. odora. LariAnn Aroidia Research
I looked at photos of A. odora and photos of A. odora in shaded areas look like my plant (backyard shaded by camphortrees all year). The photos of its spathes look familiar but other Alocasia do not. The infloresence was greenish and waxy coat on it, cannot remember if it had blue tint. Spathe was erect during bloom time. Fruits were red/orange when ripe. The collective vein present on leaf. If more photos of leaves needed, then I could take them, but I have film camera and must scan. For A. gageana I cannot find photos of spathe. The leaves look to have rougher texture.
The bluish appearance is due not to actual pigmentation but to the presence of a waxy bloom on the otherwise green inflorescence. The actual color is green. The berry color is red/orange, but so is that of berries on other Alocasia species.
