LOL ... I love when the big box stores sell plants without the courtesy of at least identifying it for the buyer. I picked this up today (they didn't even have it out of the crate and cellophane wrap when it's beautiful leaf texture caught my eye). I believe it's in the EE family somewhere, but I don't have a clue about it's proper name. Any ideas/suggestions?
Assorted Foliage thanks you, as do I. :-)
She is Polly.. I think ; )
Alocassia
This message was edited Sep 26, 2009 7:16 PM
You are good! I just went searching for that name and found a few articles on it. Thanks so much!
Alocasia, 'African Mask', a true lovely one. Good luck overwintering it inside ;(.....I've lost several. After one bit the dust one winter I tossed it into the compost pile where it came back with a vengeance! Go figure .........LOL
Bugme has it right - Alocasia amazonica (aka African Mask which seems confusing - why not Amazon Mask?)
Cut back on watering in winter (can be a spider mite magnet especially in winter) - it may totally defoliate but has always come back for me in summer for several years in a row.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/2574/
What is the difference between Polly and African Mask? They look the same to me.
I lost one to spider mites, did really well until then though...
You know, I have one of each myself and I can't tell the difference either. I did overwinter mine in the house last winter. I put the small pot in an east window and didn't water it until it was dry. They did fine. And bugme is right. If it appears to die don't throw it away. Last fall I brought in borneo giant and a xanthsoum (don't know how to spell that) 'cause they were too small to overwinter in the garage. They died. The xantho came back a couple of months ago in the pot I planted it in (put it in at the bottom of a corn plant), and I found the borneo giant bulbs still hard as a rock in another pot so I planted them outside and up they came!
The Alocasia "Polly" can be a tricky plant to grow for some as a houseplant due to several reason's, over-watering/spidermite's and who know's what else. I can only add, I have a couple of them and just when I thought they were DEAD and ready to toss them out.....they came back to life and grew better than ever.
Rachel
