Bought this the other day and don't know what it is. I presume it is an Alocasia, anyone have any ideas... Thanks Ed
It is a Xanthosoma , I do not know why it has been called an Alocasia . If you dig one up and study the tuber it is so different from any Alocasia . Even the foliage is different .. compare it with any Xanthosoma and you will see the same shape . The revision of the Xanthosoma species will be happening soon .
Scientific testing published here ; http://www.cababstractsplus.org/google/abstract.asp?AcNo=20043118854 show that this is only very distantly related to the Alocasia spp. tested. It has been discused on aroid-l a few times , check archives Ed .
Ed, Mic's comment made me go check on this one. I've grown Hilo Beauty but do not have it at the present time. During the summer months it is commonly sold at discount store plant departments in the U.S. I think you'll find these links from Aroid l interesting to read: 1. 07/03/30 Re: [Aroid-l] Natural Hybrid <abri1973@wp.pl> 2. 06/09/24 [Aroid-l] GA3 treatments on aroids "Petra Schmidt" . 3. 06/09/23 [Aroid-l] Hilo Beauty ?? Brian Williams 4. 06/05/22 [Aroid-l] ID Please Brian Williams 5. 06/05/22 RE: [Aroid-l] ID please "Michael Pascall" 6. 06/05/22 Re: [Aroid-l] ID please "james deluca" 7. 06/05/22 Re: [Aroid-l] ID please LARIANN GARNER 8. 06/05/22 Re: [Aroid-l] ID please "Abrimaal" 9. 06/05/22 RE: [Aroid-l] ID please "Alistair Hay" 10. 06/05/21 RE: [Aroid-l] ID please "Andy Cabe" 11. 06/05/21 Re: [Aroid-l] ID please "Abrimaal" < 12. 01/10/23 Re: Hybrids?? "Julius Boos" 13. 01/07/02 Re: Xanthosoma maculatum Jill Bell 14. 01/07/02 Re: Xanthosoma maculatum "brian williams" 15. 01/07/01 Re: Xanthosoma maculatum "Julius Boos" 16. 01/06/24 Xanthosoma maculatum George Yao 17. 01/06/01 Aroid Hardy List "Petra Schmidt" 18. 01/05/25 Re: cold weather - plants outside? "Julius Boos" < 19. 01/05/24 Re: cold weather - plants outside? "Ron Iles" 20. 01/05/24 cold weather - plants outside? Lester Kallus 21. 01/04/24 Dormant Alocasias, Colocasias 22. 00/09/07 Re: winter preparations "Plantsman" 23. 00/09/05 winter preparations Lester Kallus 24. 00/08/15 Hilo Beauty forwarded question from Lester Kallus 25. 00/03/16 aroids 26. 00/03/15 Re: Alocasia dormancy "Bonaventure W Magrys" 27. 00/03/11 Re: Alocasia dormancy "Jay Vannini" 28. 00/03/10 Re: Alocasia dormancy Krzysztof Kozminski 29. 00/03/05 Re: Alocasia dormancy 30. 99/04/20 pic of Hilo Beauty Neil Carroll 31. 99/04/20 Re: Experiment for members. Dr H B Joshi 32. 99/04/20 Re: Experiment for members. "Julius Boos" 33. 99/04/20 RE: pic of Hilo Beauty "C. R. Waldron" 34. 99/04/19 Re: Experiment for members. Papillote Wilderness Retreat 35. 99/04/18 Re: Experiment for members. "Julius Boos" 36. 99/04/01 Re: Alocasias 'Hilo Beauty' "Sampson" 37. 99/04/01 Re: Alocasias 38. 98/05/29 Hydroculture? "E. George Oeser" 39. 97/12/29 Alocasia recommendations 40. 97/08/22 Spectacular Aroids #1 41. 97/06/19 Alocasia Hilo Beautiy Go to this site and do a search to locate all the information: http://www.hort.net/lists/aroid-l/search.cgi You will need to type in "hilo beauty" in the search line and then tick each year listed. You will learn that some of the world's best experts are still working on this one but it certainly appears to be a Xanthosoma.
Thanks Mick and Steve!! Looks like I got some reading to do... Mick, are they fairly common over here, because that was the first time I have seen them in a nursery or at all. Maybe I just wasn't looking in the right places ; ) What about this one then, that I got from the same place. I have seen them on ebay but don't trust ebay id's....
Ed , thats a Colocasia , never bothered much with them as some can be weeds . The Hilo Beauty thing is not common , but easy to find up here . I dug one out and broke off over 20 of the unusual offsets along the base of the tuber . they are all sprouting now and I am looking foward to a colony. It may go dormant just like Caladiums do . btw tuber is similar to Caladium but offsets form very differently . Ed , this will grow in full sun and can get to 1m , would look good surrounded by Caladiums .
Thanks Mick, also sold as Alocasia, roll eyes now. I'll try that with the caladiums, I have a few offsets myself. Got another one while we are on a roll and does this one form clumps...
Yes it does , I just bought 2 pots of this as 'red stemmed Taro' the nursery had one growing in a tank and one just normally .. going for 2 markets as they sell fish and aquariums .. I planted mine in a drain I dug to keep the driveway puddles emptying . They have clumped up already . Watch out for the 'running stems' forms of Colocasia , as they can quickly spread . The foliage on the one I had was very glossy. Saw one planted on top of the Casino in Cairns and it had formed a massive curtain of runners hanging over a waterfall .
I've read this article before but today I read it again and decided some of you might want to know, especially Ed since Mic is certainly correct. According to an article on page 126 in Aroideana. volume 32, 2009, the plant known as Hilo Beauty is a Caladium, not an Alocasia. An article written by Dr. Wilbert Hetterscheid explains the species is relatively new to science and was never properly identified. It is also unknown where this plant originated in nature. The correct species name is Caladium praetermissum and little is known about the species. All references to this plant being either an Alocasia or a Xanthosoma do not take into consideration the requirements for those genera. The plant does however fit the genus Caladium. From the Kew's CATE Araceae the requirements for the genus Caladium are: Distinguishing Features: Tuberous geophytes; leaves usually peltate, blade often variegated, cordate-sagittate, sagittate or rarely trisect, fine venation reticulate, inframarginal collective vein present; spathe strongly constricted, blade withering immediately after anthesis, tube persistent; spadix fertile to apex; flowers unisexual, perigone absent; male flowers forming a truncate synandrium, pollen shed in monads. Differs from Scaphispatha in spathe tube always convolute at anthesis, well developed sterile flowers between male and female zones, stylar region as broad as ovary (Caladium paradoxum has discoid, coherent stylar regions), placentas 1-2 (-3), parietal to subbasal. It appears the name "Alocasia" Hilo Beauty dates back to an incorrect entry in Graf's Exotica. Aroideana is the journal of the International Aroid Society.