Kauai Trip

My family and I just returned from Kauai.

Among the fantastic sites and places to visit and the Allerton and McBryde gardens (where they filmed part of Jurassic Park).
The following pics are from McBryde. They are in the process of updating their inventory, and most of the plants that I photographed were not marked.

How about we try to identify them?

Pic # 1.
This was in their edible garden and is may be a "native" Hawaiian or Japanese taro.
Hawaii has more than 86 varieties of Colocasia esculenta (taro) which have been inventoried and maintained at the Kauai Research Station (KARC/CTAHR); at one time there were more than 300 varieties. Plants are distinguished based on a variety of characteristics including stem, leaf, and piko (spot on leaf where stem joins), lihi (edge/margin of stem where emerging leaves branch out [petiole groove]) and corm color and leaf shape.

This one has reddish/purplish petioles (important: the color runs up to the leaf unlike the eleeles) with a prominent purple piko and had med/dark green leaves with slight undulations. I don't see a prominent lihi. Some leaves are slightly concave . Note the veins on tops are green and on the bottom are purple.

Ideas?

A Xanth?

Alocasia Plumbea? (or not? I am not particularly goood at IDing EE yet. But...dare to be stupid....)

Alocasia Black Stem?

Don't have a clue.
The stems really were reddish.

A. Frydek?

Rox,

I just looked at my Black Stem, and where the stem joins the leave, it almost square in the middle of the leaf - these seem to be joining a bit more towards the rear of the leaf. It might be hard to tell from this picture.

Steve

A. tigrina?

A. portei?
This was really bizarre. The stems were like an Alocasia, i.e. all formed from a single base, but the leaves were ...well...bizarre!

Some Colocasia.

Xanth Mickey Mouse

OK...don't really know either of these. Maybe the one on the right is an A. Mac?

Labeled as A. Macrorrhiza.

A. cucullata?

Skaz-
Here is another shot of other plants that also have Black Stems.

How nice to go to Kauai! I was there for a week when I lived on Maui. I was mostly around Kokee State Park and down in Waimea Canyon-it was beautiful there!

The State Park was lovely. The hike to the Alakai Swamp is a bit treacherous (especially if you have a problem knee) but worth the hike!

The Alakai is not, in truth, a swamp at all but a mountain rain forest rising at its highest some 4,000 to 4,500 feet above the Pacific. It is a great place to see native birds and rare plants.

The Canyon was incredible!

Rox I will try my best I can hopefully get you in the right group of aroids they go to.

First pic Colocasia form
Second pic is a Xanthosoma not sure what species
third pic is a Alocasia not plumbea though. It looks like it might be what I have seen as a natural hybrid? Hard to say maybe a lowii hybrid?
Your alocasia black stem might be Marcorrhiza Rubra but usually the leaves have a more upright habit. This maybe growing conditions or something completely different

Your next pic is really amazing I hope you got one of these?? I have no idea what it is maybe a Xanthosoma maybe a Alocasia? It looks extremely interesting

The one you said might be a Mac looks to be Xanthosoma Atroverins usually dark bluish green and usual Xanthosoma leaf

The one labeled as Mac maybe a hybrid or a different species it is not mac

All of these look very interesting. It looks like you had a great time. I dont think I can ID them further until you get blooms. Good luck.

Sounds like you had a great trip!

"don't have a clue" is Homalomena: I'd hazard a guess at H. pendula (but no more than a guess).

"tigrina" is A. zebrina (IMO tigrina, wenzelii and zebrina intergrade as species, though distinguishable horticultural forms exist which should be recognised as cultivars not species).

"portei" is portei.

The "cucullata" looks interestng. The plant seens to combine some leaves of cucullata with more developed leaves resembling odora. I have noticed on odora that leaves with reduced blades (just below infls) sometimes have almost the exact form of cucullata leaves. I have a nagging suspicion that cucullata IS odora - a sport of it anyway. There are no herbarum collections of it from the wild : they are always of plants cultivated in gardens, temples etc. The infls of cucullata and odora are extremely similar, though generally smaller in cucullata.

Brian/Alistair-

Thanks for the IDs.

Brian, I was on best behavior and didn't nab a specimen of the "don't have a clue" homalomena from the McBryde gardens.

However, I did find another "cucullata-looking" plant somewhere else and did take a few samples. Did I send you one?

Here's a pic of the influorescence.

I also found this EE growing next to a dump. Any ideas?

That last pic. looks like what I have (a WEED) as Colocasia esculenta....

Did the Xan. have a black stripe from the base of the petiole towards the leaf?....X. robusta (robustum?).

The EE by the dump looks more like a Alocasia to me. The leaves are stiff and horizontal to slightly vertical. The shape is different though...some are like Odora but others are more like cucullata. Oh also...oops I should have mentioned this earlier...I collected red berries from the plant.

Brian, these are the red berries I sent you in the plastic tube.

But I should mention that there are some Hawaiaan C. esculenta, like Apuwai, that do have thicker, crinkled, horizontal leaves. I found that fascinating! See image.

I do not think that the Xanth had the black stripe, BUT another plant I collected did. So thanks for the very helpful ID! {I will post the image in the next fram below}

Aloha, what a glorious place you have in which to live and explore!
ROX

Rox from the pic I would have thought this to be a Colocasia a bit difformed or mutated but after seeing those red berries I dont believe it is a Colocasia? Maybe a gonotopus or steudnera? I really have no idea maybe a possible Alocasia colocasia hybrid extremely odd. I have no idea those seeds looked like alocasia seeds to me?

Just to be clear. The image above (posted 10:20) is a colocasia esculenta apuwai.
The images (posted 7:59, 8:02 and 8:04) are the unknowns. The image posted at 8:04 was the one with the red berries.

See message above.

Another clarification.
Brian, I send two sets of seeds in the plastic tubes. The ones on the bottom are from the yet to be identified plant from the Huntington. The ones on top (are they more orange?) were from the plant (posted 8:04).
ROX

The plant pic of 8:04 is a alocasia I would think it is Alocasia gageana it has been sold as Odroa many times but seems to be a much smaller grower much like cucullata. It can grow small trunks and get around 3 feet tall but never larger leaves. Makes better sense I was sure the other was a colocasia till i thought the seeds had came from it then it through me through a loop.

Brian-
Not sure what it is.
I have many gageana plants. It is actually the first EE I ever had. The leaves of the Hawaii plant were more verical and cupped.

Tell you what. I did take a small pup from it, so when it is mature I will send better pics.
Are you going to try to grow out the seeds? [I know you have a lot of babies going right now and space might be at a premium.]

ROX