Identification: Can anyone tell me what this amazing plant is?

I have never seen this plant anywhere before and can't see it in any of the gardening books we have or in the local book shops. We were given the plant by the man who put the floor in our conservatory. It was very small at the time but he said it would love the heat of the conservatory, which it does. We had problems with it at first with leaves dying off very quickly from red spider (I think) but since we sprayed it with the appropriate bug spray it has just taken off? At the moment it seems to be producing a new leaf every week or two. It's getting bigger and bigger every day! But what is it? Can anyone help please? Is there anything I should now about it? Does it flower?

 

Alocasia Sp. I believe.
http://www.plantdelights.com/Catalog/Current/Detail/01160.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alocasia

HTH
Chris

 

Thanks Chris. just had a look at Wikipedia and a few other sites. Looks like there are over 70 varieties of Alocasia but I'm guessing it could be Calidora (persian Palm), Crassifolia, Gigantea, Macrorrhiza or Odora... one of the bigger varieties. Is this quite a common plant in the hotter parts of North America? I've not seen another one here in the UK. Thanks again Chris for your help.

 

Colocasia seems to be more common here.

HTH
Chris

 

Could also be a Xanthosoma sp. as well. Try checking a website called Aroideana Research. Lariann has lots of similar plants on her website. And she knows her stuff!

Correctly, that should be Aroidea Research.

 

I also wonder if it might actually be a Xanthosoma.

 

I've tried to find the web site, Aroideana Research, but so far have been unsuccessful. Am I using the correct spelling?
Nancy

 

Maybe this?
http://aroidiaresearch.org/
LariAnn Garner
Director, Aroidia Research

HTH
Chris

 

Well, that's because I'm a dummy! It is actually Aroidia Research. I must have been asleep at the wheel! Here's the link:

http://aroidiaresearch.org/

And you might find a few more useful sources here:

http://www.exoticrainforest.com/linksraretropicalplantcollectors.html

 

Thanks for all your help guys. I have checked out all the sites and other links but there are so many species, it's difficult to say which one it is!

At http://aroidiaresearch.org/species.htm there are a few that look about right:
Alocasia alba (crassifolia)
Alocasia brisbanensis
Alocasia gageana

If it flowers I might be able to narrow it down more. At what stage during the year does it flower? Should I be doing something to help it flower.

Although here in the England the weather is so variable it may not ever be the right conditions, without spending a lot of money and time on a temperature and humidity controlled environment. At the moment the temperature in the conservatory (even though we are in the middle of summer) varies from about 8-12 degrees C at night to about 15C on a dull, cold, wet and windy day to about 35C when the suns out all day.

 

I considered Alocasia gageana but the base of the plant does not look correct. A. gageana grows as a clumping plant. The roots are often so shallow you can simply yank it out of the ground.

If it were A. gageana it should have produced an inflorescence all ready this year. That species normally produces the inflorescence in late April or May. Mine are now producing seeds. I grow many of them and have both variations. One grows almost 2 meters tall (6 feet) and the other is around 1.3 meters tall (4 feet). I'm not personally familiar with the others you named. You can see my Alocasia gageana here for a comparision. A photo of the inflorescence (flower) is included.

http://www.exoticrainforest.com/Alocasia gageana pc.html

 

Alocasia macrorrhiza. Under the right conditions leaves can be 4' wide and 6' long with petioles 4' long.

Cheers, LPN.

 

Possible, but only the spathe will tell for certain. Here's a link to a verified specimen so you can compare:
http://aroidiaresearch.org/aborng.htm

 

alanmeeks,

The plant in your pictures is Alocasia x calidora; I can recognize these anywhere, much the same as you can pick out your child from a crowd of similarly dressed children. The plant is often incorrectly labeled Alocasia "calodora", Alocasia "caladora" or "persian palm"; the latter is most humorous as the plant is neither from Persia nor is it a palm!

The Alocasia alba has a bluish, much thicker leaf blade and faint yellowish spotting on the petioles, while the Alocasia brisbanensis has more elongated leaf blades, with a much thinner texture to the leaf blades. As photopro mentioned, the plant is not A. gageana, although A. gageana is one of the parents of the Alocasia x calidora.

The seedlings of the original cross that yielded the Alocasia x calidora showed significant variations and the ones I considered to be the most desirable are not available in the marketplace. For example, one I would call the Alocasia x calidora 'bullata' because of the pronounced puckering present between the leaf blade veins. Another, illustrated on the Aroidia Research website, I call the Alocasia x calidora 'Pixie Teardrops'.

This unexpected variation is one of the reasons hybridizing is such an adventure for me.

LariAnn Garner
Aroidia Research

 

And that my friends is the "final word"! LariAnn knows this group of plants better than anyone I know with the exception of perhaps botanist Peter Boyce in Singapore. If she gives you a name, you can trust it! And by the way, I just reread this entire link. There are closer to 150 published species, not just 70.

 

LariAnn, as a result of another thread I just looked up "Alocasia calidora" on both IPNI and TROPICOS. That name does not exist in taxonomy. Is this someone's hybrid name?

 

The correct grex name must include the "x", as in Alocasia x calidora, the original hybrid name I gave this plant when I did the cross. There is no species "calidora".

As noted in another thread, this name was properly published and the plant described in Aroideana, the journal of the International Aroid Society, the ICRA (International Cultivar Registration Authority) for aroids.

LariAnn Garner
Aroidia Research

 

Thanks.

I had figured that out as a result of another of your posts. As you read on that one, I tried to make it clear what the correct name was and how the name was given by you as a result of your work. I always detest the fact people attempt to take credit for something they did not create. In my work as a commercial photographer it has happened to me many times.

Even today, I find entire pages of my website reposted on other websites including my photographs. They sometimes make a vague attempt to change the information slightly in an attempt to claim it as their own but never give credit. There is little that can be done regarding theft of information on the internet, but in the real world of photography there are laws federal to protect the original creator. More than once, I have filed a federal lawsuit to protect my copyright. And I've won descent amounts of cash as a result of the infringement. In most cases, it would have simply been cheaper for the offending user to simply negotiate a fair price to use my work.

Regretably, you don't have such laws in your favor when someone "steals" your plants and attempts to claim they were the original creator. I find that a shame.

See you at the aroid show in just a few days!