Alocasia × amazonica

Alocasia × amazonica is one of the most widely recognised aroid hybrids, its glossy near-black, deeply-veined arrow-shaped leaves a fixture of houseplant shops for decades, despite a name that misleadingly suggests Amazonian origin. It is almost universally credited to Salvadore Mauro's Florida nursery in the 1950s as a cross between Alocasia longiloba and Alocasia sanderiana, though the exact breeding history is not formally documented and some accounts differ on the details. This single cross has since produced a whole family of named sports and selections: 'Polly' (a compact tissue-culture mutant), 'Bambino' (dwarf), and 'Venom' (a further mutation of the line with markedly thickened, corrugated leaves) among them, all propagated vegetatively rather than resulting from further deliberate crosses.

Origin

No wild native range: a horticultural hybrid generally credited to Salvadore Mauro in 1950s Florida; despite the name, not native to or naturally occurring in the Amazon.

Classification

Genus

Alocasia

Family

Araceae

Type

Hybrid

Growth habit

Upright rosette, clumping

Morphology

Leaf shape

Arrow-shaped, deeply lobed with wavy margin

Leaf length

20-35 cm

Leaf width

10-18 cm

Petiole colour

Green, mottled purple-brown

Venation

Bold silvery-white primary veins against a near-black glossy blade

Texture

Glossy

Variegation

N/A: the high-contrast white veining is a fixed hybrid trait; 'Polly', 'Bambino' and 'Venom' are propagated mutations/selections of this cross, not variegated forms

Growth habit

Upright clumping rosette