Colocasia affinis var Jenningsii (aka Dwarf Jenningsii)

I have grown this little elephant ear for many years now. I am wondering if there may be 2 distinct varieties of it. The reason I say this is, I saw the one in the Plant Delights catalog, and it refers to a "big silver splotch" in the center of the leaf as being the hallmark of this species. However, I did other research and everywhere else I see it, I see no splotch, except in the photo from Plant Delights catalog.

Mine definitely does NOT have the splotch, and it definitely is NOT C. antiquorum "Illustris" (Imperial Taro). This is a miniature colocasia, never more than about a foot high for me.

I also have Colocasia fallax, which has no black 'windowpanes' but definitely does have a big silver splotch.

Does anyone know, is this the same plant as Plant Delights, or a different variety of the same plant?

Mine IS from Plant Delights. It is lighter in the center,
can't say silver.

I'll grab a camera when we have some better light out
and post. We are overcast just now.

Okay, this is my jenningsii.

Well their are a few that fit into this odd group of Colocasias. Your top photo looks more similar to the species Colocasia heterchroma. The truth is it seems their are some natural hybrids floating around in this group as well as other clones. In my research on these I have found at least 7 unique forms in this group such as Fallax, Affinis, Heterchroma. They all seem very closely related and have similar habits. All though the do not have some of the same structures this group also seems to be closely related to Remustia and some look very similar. As for the theory on Colocasia Illustris I personally believe it was a natural hybrid dealing with one of these smaller species.
I have other photos of similar species but I believe Joe Wright did a great job with his scanning of the leaves shown here.

http://aroid.org/gallery/wright/index.php

These are not the same plant. Mine is a lot different, from the windowpane pattern to the lack of the splotch. I bought it many years ago labeled as Dwarf Jenningsii. I think it may be, but is a different 'variety' so to speak.

Brian you and I were posting at the same time LOL. I agree. Mine is different from yours too! 3 different ones in the same post

Hi,
You sent me running outside to look at my col Affinis jenninggii. :)
My plant does not look like gothqueen or bwilliams . It looks like alisons.
And the center is a light green and not silver.

This makes me think about the Alo Hilo beauty I was given years ago. I just bought a Hilo bold.....and it looks like its the same plant to me.
Maybe the bold will change as it matures.

I would be interested in seeing pictures of the other 7 Affinis Jenninggii if anyone has them.
Thanks
loveyard

What a cute little plant. It looks similar to one of the leaves on the Joe Wright scan. I haven't heard from Joe in a year or two. He's one of the sweetest guys around, and one with the worst luck. Hurricanes seem to aim directly for him.

in the Wright scan, I think mine is the upper left. Its curious, the one right beside it looks like Fallax only with a much darker color around the silver spot in the center

Here is my list of forms I have grown or seen.

Colocasia Affinis jenningsii
Colocasia affinis jenningsii with no silver mid vein

Colocasia heterchroma
Colocasia heterchroma 'Dark Shadows New form from Tony Avent

Colocasia Fallax
Colocasia Fallax silver dollar
Colocasia Fallax vein form

Colocaisa Species this is the dark leaf form with green veins I show above. It maybe a unknown species.

All of these species are small growers with odd small flowers unlike most other Colocasia species. I have grown most of these a few are harder to grow than others. Affinis and a few other have dormant periods were they do not grow and tubes are easily and often lost in this state. Some can easily be seen growing side by side in the wild and a few photos I have seen you can see what looks like natural hybrids between Fallax and affinis or Heterchroma have taken place. Their would be a ton of new forms of these in the wild but few people collect these and few are rarely offered. They make great ground cover plants and are fairly tough. Most are hardy to zone7.

Some slightly different forms.

Affinis

Fallax

My Fallax almost never does dormant here and has even stood up to 20F temp freezes of several hours duration. The Jenningsii ALWAYS goes dormant but it always comes back and comes back more than when it left.

Thanks for the pictures bwilliams. We had one our freak freezes this year ( once every 7 -10 years). Many of my precious tropical's took a beating , but all my dormant aroids came up so beautifully that I am collecting more. I still have allot to learn. Thanks again.

I too appreciate the photos. I'd like to collect that one that looks really black