Alocasia odora (Roxb.) K. Koch

 A Giant "Elephant Ear"?

Often misidentified as  Alocasia macrorrhiza

Some sites list this species incorrectly as Alocasia odorata

A Rainforest Giant

 

I have a fascination with plants with large leaves.  The larger the leaf the more I admire the plant.  One of the largest undivided leaf exotics in the tropical plant world (some would incorrectly call it an "Elephant Ear") is Alocasia odora from Vietnam and neighboring islands.  The largest is Alocasia robusta, and I considered growing one!  But A. robusta can easily outgrow our atrium with leaf shafts that can reach 12 feet and a plant height of 25 feet!  Alocasia species are known to be highly variable and not every leaf of every specimen will always appear the same.  This link explains in greater detail the scientific principals of natural variation and morphogenesis.  Click here.

Alocasia odora reaches an impressive 12 feet in our Exotic Rainforest atrium.  With stiff leaves that resemble something from a movie about King Tut or Cleopatra with the leaf blade being used as a fan, the leaf approaches 4 feet in length.  Definitely an impressive tropical.  Although I had always thought the plant would not survive the winters outdoors in cold climates like Arkansas, it just may!  My youngest daughter planted three in her Little Rock yard in the summer of 2006.  When it froze during the winter the plants disappeared.  But in the spring of 2007 all three began to grow again!  So it does appear to be able to tolerate cold to some degree!   You just have to dig it up and bring it indoors for the winter if you live much further north than Zone 7, minus the leaves of course! 

You may find this plant listed on many websites as Alocasia odorata.  This is a misspelling and is not recognized as a verified species name on either TROPICOS (a service of the Missouri Botanical Garden) or the International Plant Names Index (IPNI).  The species does make an extremely impressive "Elephant Ear" when used as a landscape plant.  However, the term "Elephant Ear" is a poor descriptive term.  That term is sometimes applied to five, perhaps six, groups of plants (genus) that include between 4,000 and 5,000 species!  Those genus include Alocasia, Philodendron, Anthurium Colocasia, Xanthosoma, and a few Caladium species.  So if you ask about an "Elephant Ear", which one do you mean?  All of those species are quite different and often grow in very different ways.

This giant plant reproduces in two ways. In the spring it produces "pups", which grow directly from the base of the parent plant, or it can reproduce from seed.  The seeds are formed once the amber white spathe "flower" begins to wilt and die (see insert photo).  The spathe is not actually a "flower", but is instead an inflorescence and is approximately 6 inches tall.  The spathe is  lovely and lasts only a few days to a week.  In the months following the death of the spathe a cluster of bright red seeds will grow.  These are easy to plant in shallow soil and will grow new giants.   Certainly one of the most impressive plants you can grow. 

This plant has been the source of a great deal of confusion for myself and other collectors. The key to the correct ID is  the photo of the spathe and my mention of its size.  The spathe of Alocasia macrorrhiza is substantially larger at 30 to 45cm (12 to 18 inches) and that plant's elongated spathe actually folds backwards away from the spadix.  My attempt at including spathe photos was done for this exact purpose in an effort to get the best feedback possible from plant experts.  And in this case has resulted in a more accurate identification for the plant photographed and described.


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