September 2019 - 42

hot tropics
G
Let'sTalk
Elephant
BY ANDREW BRITTEN
42 SEPTEMBER 2019 GPNMAG.COM
Ears
From houseplant to the garden, alocasia and colocasia
varieties bring a tropical touch to any application.
Top: 'Dark Star'; bottom: 'Lutea'
(All photos courtesy of George Butler
from Butler's Foliage)
rowing up in Maryland, nothing
screamed tropical more than a plant
with large leaves. It didn't take long for
me to quickly fall in love with alocasia
and colocasia. Now that I live in Miami, they
are a happy addition to my collection of plants
in the yard. Coming from the same family of
Araceae, they have many different shapes,
sizes and colors. They are both herbaceous
perennials with a large corm on or just below
the soil line. From houseplant to combination
pot to specimen in the garden, you can
probably find one of these to suit your needs.
NOTABLE DIFFERENCES
It wasn't until I moved to Miami that I even
understood some of the differences between
the two. I found myself inappropriately using
their names interchangeably, although they do
have some differences.
The most noticeable difference between
the two is direction of the leaves. Typically,
alocasia will have their leaves with the tip
pointing up, whereas colocasia typically have
their tips pointing downward. This is not a
guaranteed difference but will incorporate the
bulk of them with a few exceptions. The petiole
on alocasia are typically attached at the leaf
notch, while colocasia are typically attached
down from this notch.
Another difference between the two are the
differences between the shape of their tubers.
Alocasia typically have a more elongated tuber
and colocasia have a much rounder, ball-type
tuber. In general, alocasia will prefer a partial
shade environment with well-drained soil.
Colocasia, on the other hand, can generally
handle full sun and wet conditions. As with the
direction of the leaves, this is the norm, but not
always the rule. Mother Nature loves to have
exceptions on these factors as well.
The true difference between the two, which is
a hard rule, is the difference in the morphology
of the flowers. It is microscopic, so the general
rules above are much easier to follow. In
alocasia flowers the placenta is basal, and in
colocasia it is along the interior sides of the
embryonic future berry.
GROWING ALOCASIA AND COLOCASIA
Commercially, both are typically produced
from tissue culture (TC). It is not uncommon to
find many of the varieties available from tubers
in the retail setting, although consistency is
much better when produced from TC, typically
in a 72-cell liner.
Although a tropical, they have a fairly rapid
growth cycle. In general, from TC to finished

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September 2019

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