Alocasia longiloba

Alocasia longiloba is a species of flowering plant in the family Araceae. It is the namesake of a species complex. The complex has a widespread distribution; Guangdong, Hainan, and southern Yunnan in China, mainland Southeast Asia, and western and central Malesia. In the houseplant trade, many of the former species that were subsumed into Alocasia longiloba are now considered types or varieties, these include ‘argyrea’, ‘korthalsii’, ‘lowii’, and ‘watsoniana’.

Species description

Small to robust herbs ca. 40-150 cm tall; terrestrial to lithophytic; rhizome generally elongate, erect to decumbent, often completely exposed, sometimes swollen and sub-cormous, ca. 8-60 cm long, 2-8cm diam., usually bearing remains of old leaf bases and cataphylls; growth markedly rhythmic with renewal growth delayed after flowering.

Vegetative modules often unifohar (to 3-leaved), subtended by conspicuous lanceolate paperymembranous often purpUsh-tessellate cataphylls degrading to papery fibres; petioles glabrous, purple-brown to pink to green, often strikingly obliquely mottled chocolate brown, ca. 30-120 cm long, sheathing in the lower ca. 1/4 or less.

Blades often pendent, shape and venation extremely variable, peltate (except ‘denudata’), plain mid-green throughout to adaxially dark green and abaxially rich purple, often adaxially with the major venation white to pale grey-green and sometimes with the lamina bordering the main veins grey-green, hasto-sagittate and triangular in outline to ovatosagittate and shield-shaped, 27-65 (-85) cm long x 14-ca. 40 cm wide, with the widest point anterior to the petiole insertion to near the tips of the posterior lobes.

Aanterior costa with 4-8 primary lateral veins on each side, the proximal ones diverging at ca. 60-100°, the angle decreasing in distal veins and the course more or less straight to the margin to markedly acropetally deflected; axillary glands conspicuous abaxially at the junctions of the main veins and costae; secondary venation obscure to conspicuous abaxially, mostly arising from the primary veins at a wide angle then sooner or later deflected towards the margin, forming variously well-defined interprimary collective veins or these absent, concolorous with the abaxial lamina or sometimes markedly paler; interprimary collective veins when present weakly undulating to strongly zig-zagging at broadly acute angles.

Posterior lobes ca. 3/4 to V2 the length of the anterior lobe, when peltate united for (5-)10-66% of their length; posterior costae straight to pedately incurved

Inflorescence

Inflorescences (solitary to) paired, with up to 4 pairs in succession without interspersed foliage leaves; peduncles ca. 8-18 cm long, usually resembling the petioles in colour and markings, erect at first, then often dechnate, elongating and then erect in advanced fruit, subtended by a series of progressively larger cataphylls resembling those of the vegetative phase; spathe ca. 7-17 cm long, abruptly constricted ca. 1.5-3.5 cm from the base.

Lower spathe green, ovoid to subcylindric; limb pale green, membranous, lanceolate, canoe-shaped and longitudinally in-curved, eventually reflexing after male anthesis; spadix somewhat shorter than to subequalling the spathe, ca. 6-13 cm long, stipitate, with the stipe conic, whitish, to 5 mm long.

Female zone 1-1.5 cm long; ovaries subglobose, ca. 1.5-2 mm diam., green; stigma subsessile or on a slender style to ca. 0.5 mm long, white, acutely and conspicuously 3-4-lobed, the lobes pointed, more or less spreading; sterile interstice 7-10 mm long, narrower than the fertile zones, corresponding with the spathe constriction.

Lower synandrodia often with incompletely connate staminodes, the rest elongate rhombohexagonal, flat-topped; male zone subcyhndric, somewhat tapered at the base, 1.2-2.5 cm long, 4.5-8 mm thick, ivory; synandria more or less hexagonal, ca. 2 mm diam., 4-6-merous; thecae opening by apical pores not overtopped by synconnective; appendix 3.5-9 cm long, about the same thickness as the male zone and demarcated from it by a faint constriction, subcylindric, distally gradually tapering to a point, faintly rugose to rugose in the lower part, very pale orange to bright yellow; fruiting peduncle to 25 cm long; fruiting spathe ovoid, ca. 4-7 cm long; fruits orange-red.

VARIEGATED FORMS:WHITE, MINT, YELLOW

ETYMOLOGY: The specific epithet, longiloba, refers to the long lobes that are characteristic of this species

CULTIVARS:As detailed in the Notes section above, the Longiloba group is most varied, and only a few named cultivars are regnized: Alocasia longiloba ‘Denudata’,Alocasia longiloba ‘Lowii’, Alocasia longiloba ‘Silver’, Alocasia longiloba ‘Watsoniana’

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