Will my African Mask multiply in a pot?

I have an African Mask that I planted in a pot. I am so happy with it. I'm wondering if it will multiply in a pot?

Yes, it will, so long as it receives proper care. Have you grown plants like these before?

No, but it seems happy.

Mine does. Just leave room for the roots to spread.

What is an African Mask?

African Mask is a "name" associated with a plant in the genus of Alocasia.


Rachel

The plant is Alocasia x amazonica

TY, everyone. I have Polly but didn't know that was the common name. Would the name 'African Mask' also apply to Polly?

This message was edited Jun 2, 2010 8:27 AM

My understanding is that the term "african mask" applies mostly to the generic A. x amazonica. If you have a named variety, like Polly or Purpley, the name might not apply. But since none of the names are "official", it is just a matter of choice or taste!

This may appear complicated but if you follow closely it is easily understood. I am including a link with much more detail for any that want to learn about Alocasia Amazonica.

Alocasia Amazonica is a name contrived by Miami postman Salvador Mauro during the 1950's. Salvador owned a very small nursery in Miami which he called the Amazon nursery. Alocasia do not exist naturally in the Amazon but are found naturally in SE Asia and the surrounding area.

The name Alocasia x amazonica apparently was contrived and appeared on page 326 of a Florida State Horticultural Society publication in 1953 in an article entitled Cultivation of the Genus Alocasia in Florida. It has been continued on a variety of websites including the National Botanic Garden of Belgium but several taxonomists have said the name is an invalid name.

According to researcher Rafaël Govaerts with the Royal Botanic Garden Kew in London, he has elected to indicate the name Alocasia x amazonica Reark, Proc. Florida State Hort. Soc. 20: 326 (1953) is an invalid name (nom. inval.) and as a result Alocasia x amazonica is no longer in use on the Royal Botanic Garden Kew's websites.

This confusion evidently dates back to a hybrid first described by botanist Éduard François André (1840-1911), the plant he described as Alocasia mortefontanensis that used the same parentage as Salvador Mauro to create his now popular hybrid but Andre never called it Alocasia x amazonica as is often reported. Instead André's hybrid Alocasia mortefontanensis was published in Revue Horticole in 1891. The plant was originally crossed by the brothers Chantrier who were gardeners at Mortefontaine. André published the plant using only the name Alocasia mortefontanensis, it was more than 50 years later when anyone elected to associate Salvador's name with the same plant by adding an "x" in the center of his name.

Noted Alocasia botanist Alistair Hay has written the use of the name Alocasia x amazonica would be in contravention to several established rules and as such should be abandoned.

According to Bill and Denis Rotolante who are friends of both LariAnn and myself the name Alocasia Poly or Alocasia Polly is a name they originally created as a result of a small stable form of Alocasia Amazonica. The two plants are one and the same. Poly is simply smaller and they are not distinctly different plants. The name Poly was derived because at first Bill thought the smaller plant may have an extra chromosome making it a polyploid plant. That was later learned to be incorrect. All of this is explained in this link in greater detail. The spelling "Polly" was changed by a tissue culture lab in Florida because they felt that spelling was more marketable.


http://www.exoticrainforest.com/Alocasia%20micholitziana%20%20pc.html

Sorry if this appears to be over the heads of collectors but all of this has been well researched by a number of members of the International Aroid Society with the help of several aroid botanists and taxonomists.

Steve

This message was edited Jun 2, 2010 10:19 AM

This message was edited Jun 2, 2010 10:28 AM

This message was edited Jun 2, 2010 10:52 AM

Great info. Thanks.

I hope you find the info helpful. I just reread my post and found a big error in the way I constructed one sentence so I have now corrected that. Sometimes my brain tries to outpace my fingers!

Steve

Steve,

After reading your page about the Alocasia amazonica, I thought I'd provide a teaser trailer about what I have in the pipeline. I did successful crosses between A. macrorrhizos 'Borneo Giant' and A. sanderiana (seed set on the Borneo Giant) as well as the Borneo Giant and A. watsoniana (seed set on Borneo Giant). The seedlings of the first cross, at least at this juvenile stage, look like A. amazonicas, but of course I expect them to attain MUCH larger sizes than any A. amazonica ever grown so far. The seedlings of the second cross look so much like A. longilobas that if I didn't know of a certainty that they were hybrids grown from seed set on the Borneo Giant (I have never had any A. longiloba seeds at any time), I'd swear they were small A. longiloba plants! Again, I expect them to grow MUCH larger. I will have to write an Aroideana article about these, especially if they bloom and I can determine whether they are fertile.

I'm thinking about two more Aroideana articles, one on complex Alocasia hybrids (three or more different species parents - for example: (A.nycteris x A. odora) x (A. macrorrhizos 'Borneo Giant' x A. vangigo)) and one on my Meconostigma Philodendron hybrid work (of which the P. 'Maharlika' was but one example)..

LariAnn



This message was edited Jun 2, 2010 1:00 PM

I'm with you LariAnn. We (the IAS) needs far more articles such as these written to appeal to growers. A large version looking like Alocasia Amazonica would be a thing of beauty that most collectors would want to own.

It is my strong opinion the future of the IAS depends of getting more growers like those that read your work here to become a part of the society. The focus has to stay with scientifically accurate info due to our charter but there is plenty of room for those that only wish to grow aroids and learn more than they have already learned on their own. www.Aroid.org

Keep up the good work and keep up the writing. I will be anxious to learn more about your successes!

Steve

Fascinating! I for one would be very interested in a large amazonica. I would be more than glad to pay for one.
Kyle