Caribbean Garden - What am I growing?

I'm new to gardening in a tropical climate and trying to landscape a 1/4 acre patch. I've been gathering plants from various sources and finding that the locals here rarely know the names of the plants, leaving me to guess through google, or post here. :)
I'd appreciate any help you can give me.


#1
This one seems to be an invasive sort of creeping ground cover/vine?
When in bloom it has small 1" tubular upright flowers in a pinky red colour.
It's been suggested that it's a Jamaican Firecracker plant.
While the flowers are quite similar in shape, the greenery and flower colour isn't.
Any ideas on what this might be?
And sorry it's such a bad picture

 

#2
I'm sure this one is dead easy for most of you tropical gardeners!
Type of drancena maybe?

 

#3
This stuff is everywhere but I have no idea what it's called. It's like enormous wandering jew. Any ideas?

 

2. is a Cordyline
3. looks like a Callisia fragrans...

 

Much appreciated Lila.

 

#1 is something that also invades my garden. No clue what it is, though.

May I add, I'm really jazzed that there's someone else in the Western Hemisphere's Tropical zone to share garden tips and fret about weeds with... You are probably growing a lot of the same things as I am.

 

#1 looks like Ipomoea quamoclit.

 

David! Yes, yes, yes!!! That's it! Fantastic! (dances around the room :)
I've been trying to figure this one out for months!

I was going to use it to stabalize a hill by the house with very loose soil.
I could just let nature take it's course, but this vine looks far superior.
Any idea how deep the roots grow? Don't want the house slipping away in the rainy season.:(

Lorax, the feeling is mutual! Pleased to meet you and I'll certainly have more questions for you! God knows, I need all the help I can get. It's like learning to walk again, but in the jungle.

 

Okay, one last quiz for the day.
I know it's alocasia, but any idea what variety?

 

That's exactly how I felt a year ago when I moved. But this is FAR superior to Canada.

And that might not be an alocasia; leaf shape looks like it could be a Xanthosoma. We'll wait for PhotoPro or Edleigh to weigh in, as they're the resident experts on aroids.

Oh, and a rainy season tip from a flooding country - if the hill's gonna go, it's gonna go and no level of greenery will help it. That said, something is better than nothing.

 

The shape of the leaf implies Alocasia over Xanthosoma. At this size, too difficult to speculate on a species. It resembles Alocasia odora but don't hold your breath. If it is A. odora it will grow quite tall.

 

That is the growth from planted cuttings after 10 weeks.
I've seen the mother, and she's big! Probably about 6-7 feet high.

 

I have Alocasia odora in my atrum over 12 feet (4 meters). Look at this link and tell me if the mother plant is similar.

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

The only way to be certain is to compare the spathe and spadix. Right now is the season when the plant should be producing an inflorescence, so if you can find one, compare it to the inflorescence on my link.

 

It looks very much the same, but having said that, it was over 3 months ago that I viewed it. No sign of any inflorescence yet, but would it bloom this early on? It's only ten weeks old.

Amazing collection on your website by the way.
Does the purple leaf Colocasia esculenta taste the same as the green taro leaves or does it have it's own unique flavour? I have some planted right now but I haven't sampled any yet as it's too pretty and there is just not enough yet for a meal!

 

Sorry about that, I was referring to the older plant you had seen. It will take at least a year for the small one to produce an inflorescence. You'll find it will grow much taller if planted outside in the tropics.

There are an estimated 100 plus variations of Colocasia esculenta. As far as I am aware, they all taste the same. The species is used as a food source in the Caribbean and much of Polynesia. Hawaiians use it all the time as a food source. We don't eat it often but we have cooked it a few times. But I've eaten it often in the Caribbean.

I hope you enjoyed what you read. The website is little more than my notes to myself on all of my specimens. So far, I have close to 300 species of aroids, tropical and orchids. As I age I forget what I've learned! So I set out some years ago to publish my notes so that anyone could use them (hopefully) and when I can't remember something I am certain I should know I just get on the net and see what I said to myself!

 

You don't remember?
Yes, I feel your pain.

This one will be simple for all you experts.
The only name I could get from the nursery owner was "big leaf plant". Hmm, thanks!
Is the one on the left with the large dark green leaves also in the alocasia family?

And the brugmansia on the right, large normal leaves, going along fine, then all of a sudden all the leaves started coming out 1/4 of the size? Mystery to me!

 

The one on the left does appear to be an Alocasia. It shows a few characterstics of Philodendron but doesn't appear to be any Philodendron I am aware of and I can't see the base of the plant to be certain. Based on the shape of the petioles my guess would be Alocasia. Again, at this size determining a species will be difficult. I would suggest you familiarize yourself with LariAnn Garner's website at Aroidia Research www.AroidiaResearch.org

LariAnn has more facts regarding Alocasia on the net than anyone and is very accurate.

Brugmansia typically produce fewer leaves of smaller size when it is cooler. I have a tree inside the atrium close to 14 feet tall and it produces far fewer leaves during winter. During the summer we have to top the limbs constantly to keep it from growing out the roof! That plant needs a lot of light in order to produce blooms. The sooner you get that one in the ground, the better!

 

That's an excellent website for reference. Thank you photopro.

I don't see anything resembling it on there, but I came across this one on the internet and it looks very similar, except for the colour variation.
It's Alocasia - plumbea 'Nigra'.

 

Does the petiole (stem) have a purple/red color? If it is Alocasia plumbea, or a variation, it should have the reddish color petiole. Alocasia species are quite often variable and take on a variety of leaf shapes. I have that species but mine looks little like your photo. But in the world of Alocasia, and aroids in general, that means nothing. Aroids are frequently variable and have many different shapes. I often attempt to explain it as humans having different shaped faces. Just because one human doesn't look like another human is not an indication we aren't the same species. Same with aroids.

 

Yes, the petiole was dark purple.
Still perplexed by the brugmansia. It's not fewer leaves, it's leave that are 75 - 85% smaller than the others. I haven't switched the fertilizer or amount of water it's getting and it's been in a pretty steady 76-82 degree temperature. ?
Oh well.
Thanks again!

 

I grow Brugmansia but rarely am able to make it bloom in my atrium. We're lucky to see blossoms once a year. I believe, based on just glancing at my tree, the smaller leaves are a natural cycle based on the length of the day.

 

When you get back to your garden in the Caribe, Tropical, just plant it out in a semishaded location. My experience with Brugmansias is that they're happier in the dirt than they are in pots....

 

Yeah get your Brugs out of that pot and it will triple in size in no time...

Ed

 

Here is Alistair Hay's website on Brugmansia. Alistair is a botanist and was associated with the national garden in Austrailia prior to his retirement.

http://www.meroomeadowperennials.com.au/

 

Do these pictures help to identify it?