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bihai

Your thoughts on an ID.....

bihai
18 years ago

I just learned to post pictures into the message body, this will be my second attempt.

I have had this plant for 5 years. I bought it as Alocasia sinuatis at a local nursery. But, I am wondering if it actually may be Alocasia portei?

It stands 6-8 ft tall at the height of its growth in late summer. Goes dormant every year. comes back from a massive trunk. Here it is pictures with one of my Xanthosoma Lime Zingers, which at the time of this picture was about 5 ft tall. There is a ruler sitting on a leaf for scale

{{gwi:391355}}

Comments (14)

  • cannafreak
    18 years ago

    It looks like a Alocasia Sinuata too me. I attached a link to A&B Tropicals they have both types to compare.

    Here is a link that might be useful: A & B Tropicals

  • bihai
    Original Author
    18 years ago

    A and B has sinuata but not portei...they only have portodora which is a lot different from portei.
    I thought it WAS sinuata (and it well may be) until I saw a friend's portei....portei may have more deeply pronounced scallops though....his plant was very young, not mature.

  • cactusfreak
    18 years ago

    Compared to this picture it looks more like sinuata.
    Your's is just larger and healthier. Very nice.
    http://www.agristarts.com/aloc_sinuata.htm

    Portei- Seems more deeply divided and ruffled.
    http://naturalselections.safeshopper.com/51/725.htm?823

  • keiko2
    18 years ago

    Bihai,
    Your Alocasia looks kind of short & squatty for portei. I don't have a sinuata to compare, but the species name implies that the leaves will be crinkled or rugose as shown in your photo. My portei is similarly lobed, but the leaves are smooth and a brighter green than yours.

    Keiko

  • randy_e
    18 years ago

    Here's a photo I just took of our Alocasia portei. It's over 6' tall and I didn't have a ladder handy so I did the best I could holding the camera above my head. This A. portei has the mottled petiole.
    Randy

    Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:391354}}

  • susanlynne48
    18 years ago

    Oh, no.....oh, no......do I see another debate on the horizon? Surely not! Don't call me Shirley!

    Love the picture and the plant! There are times when I wish I lived in Florida.....and then there are the hurricanes! YIKES!

    What is the hardiness of this plant? Zone 7, you say?

    Susan

  • bihai
    Original Author
    18 years ago

    No no! Nothing like that! I think looking at the photos presented that it IS sinuata. I wish I had a portei now too!

  • randy_e
    18 years ago

    No no no no debates....
    I don't know how hardy they are in zone 7. I do know that the portei with the mottled petiole are lot more hardy than the A. portei with the all green petiole.
    Randy

  • lariann
    18 years ago

    Oh, what fun! The plant Bihai shows in the picture is what I've always known as A. sinuata, but have since come to find out is Alocasia boa (see http://www.aroid.org/genera/alocasia/boa/). The pictures on the IAS site are of young plants so they do not yet show the compound sinuate margins. The plant that the moniker "A. sinuata" is now affixed to is a much smaller "jewel" type alocasia (see http://www.aroid.org/genera/alocasia/sinuata/ ). I've crossed the A. boa with A. macrorrhizos "Big Mac" (possibly an A. "Borneo Giant" type) and have a large amount of sprouting seeds now. I also have an A. boa which is suffused with brownish-purple throughout, somewhat like the A. plumbea 'nigra', but I have not been able to bloom it yet as it is more finicky than the "regular" A. boa.

    The A. portei is indeed much more deeply lobed and ruffly, although they do come in several types. I've never seen one with a pure green petiole, but I have ones with dark green with a little brown thrown in, and others with almost black petioles. The very dark one is the kind I used for the cross I named Alocasia x portora. I do have a pure green A. x portora, as the colored petioles only showed up in about half the seedlings. One of the main objectives of doing the cross was to get a plant like the A. portei, but as hardy as the A. odora. Sadly, the F1 generation has so far proven to be unwilling to produce an F2 generation for me, and that F2 is where the A. portei look would emerge.

    LariAnn

    Here is a link that might be useful: Alocasia portei

  • bihai
    Original Author
    18 years ago

    You know, I THOUGHT I remembered seeing somewhere a very small plant they were calling Alocasia sinuata. I guess I dismissed it and thought that they had mislabeled the small one!

  • annafl
    18 years ago

    Bihai, I have both. The plant you picture is A. sinuata. It can get enormous and tends to send out babies. The portei is like Randy's and it is more more divided and finger like instead of just wavy edged. It can also get very large, but does not have a tendency to send out little ones. Mine is 10-12 feet high. Portodora is very different than both.

  • aroideana
    18 years ago

    I have many Alocasia boa plants , and the leaf is held much flatter than the pictured plant , it also has a very striped petiole , its trunk is very thin , maybe only 3 cms or so [less than 2"]

  • fernaly
    18 years ago

    Okay. Now that we have all this settled....or do we?
    What about the site linked to above, A and B Tropicals? Good company to order from? Bad Company to order from?

  • susanlynne48
    18 years ago

    Oddly enough, you can also really see the difference between New Guinea Gold and Lime Zinger in the photos on the A&B Tropicals website.

    Susan

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