Picked us an Alocasia Saturday that has a very unique (read strange) look to it. Looks as though the top of the leaf is trying to grow out of the bottom. I'm sure it's someone's hybrid but I can't find any info or pictures of it anywhere. I emailed the seller who is very good with identification but haven't heard back from him yet. In the meantime I'm hoping someone else may have a clue. First picture is the entire plant.
A single leaf.
Leaf edge.
And the underside of the leaf.
No idea Steve but it does not appear to be a species, at least one I've seen or read about.
Tissue culture companies are now all but refusing to throw away anything strange that happens in their labs and often just put the deformed plants out for sale because they know someone will buy it thinking it is "strange". TC often causes deformities in poorly mixed batches of chemical and my first thought would be that is what you have purchased. I have really nothing to prove that upon, just speculation after having observed this so often in the local trade.
The companies often grant the plant some strange name just to promote the sale of something that would normally end up in the trash.
Steve
This look like a plant I told a friend to put into TC a few years ago. I am not sure if they did or not. It was a mutation off of Alocasia polly if I remember right. The plants were TC stock but one had this unusual look to them. I believe Steve is right a lot of times the labs get mutations some make it to the market. Also if the TC plants are not started back from original stock then they start making copies of copies this seems to be were the mutations can happen often. That is why most TC labs return back to mother stock after so many units are made if not everything starts looking mutated most are not attractive.
A friend of mine locally did a paper on this particular mutation the muculation of the leaves is believed to be from the plants cells trying to produce leaf structures on the wrong side of the leaves veination cells are acting like leaf cells. It is odd since there seems to be some order to it. Much like Xanthosoma albo marginata will almost always form cups at the ends of the mutated leaves. I gave him a plant of that for his research and most of the paper is dedicated to it.
Here is a picture of the plant I saw. These may in fact be different plants with similar mutations.
Brian, my first reaction was also a mutated Alocasia Amazonica or Polly. As you know, both are one and the same, Poly is simply a smaller mutant of Amazonica found in a particular group of TC cultured plants at Silver Krome.
The paper sounds interesting. Can you post a link?
Steve
Thanks, Steve & Brian. Never believed that it was a species plant. Was just looking for some info and a name. My first thought too was that it had somehow derived from Amazonica or Poly. My plant looks similar to the one you posted. I hadn't thought about it being a TC plant. Makes sense that if it were a TC of a TC a genetic mutation would be exacerbated.
Steve, you're right about someone purchasing it because it is strange. I took the bait because of this reason but also because it was pretty cheap!
Got a reply back from Mike where I purchased it. It's Alocasia 'Loco'. I found that it was introduced January 14th at the Tropical Plant Industry Exhibition in Ft. Lauderdale but nothing else other than mere assumptions that it is a sport of Poly or a hybrid.
I concur with the idea that it is a TC derived mutation of Poly. In any event, it is derived from the hybrid plant known as Alocasia amazonica. Since these types of mutations rarely flower, and when they do, they are sterile, I don't work with them. I've seen this type of mutation occur in other species of Alocasias as well.
