The Dragon Plant!

Several months ago as a birthday gift, Hubby had the florist deliver a basket of plants to me. He knows that I would much rather have a plant than cut flowers since I can enjoy them for much longer. In this basket. there was a nice variety of plants but one in particular caught my eye. This plant was in a tiny two inch plastic pot but had three large leaves of the most unusual type. I had no idea what the plant was nor how to care for it but I did know that I had to get it out of that teeny tiny pot! The plant was potted in a very larger terracotta pot making it look lost! Poor little bitty plant in the great big pot! I felt sorry for the plant..it looked so ridiculous sitting in that huge pot. Now I am glad that I put it there..the plant has caught up with the size of the pot. It is gigantic!

Today, again, I pondered just what type of plant it was. Whatever care I was giving the plant must agree with it judging by the looks of it. After a bit of research, I discovered that I have an African Mask..Amazon Elephant Ear..Alocasia Polly..Polly Plant..or any of these! It also goes by Jewel Alocasia and Alligator Alocasia! It seems that this plant goes by quite a few names! The true name is Alocasia Amazonica and it is not a true species..it is a hybrid plant. Though touted as being a "rainforest" plant, this plant has never been found on the rainforest floor. It was generated in a nursery somewhere in Florida! It seems that Salvadore Mauro, the horticulturist that created the hybrid owned a nursery. He simply named the plant after his place of business, "Amazon Nursery". Along the way of becoming a popular house plant, it has picked up many colorful names!

The plant's main attraction is its unusual leaves. They can grow up to two feet in length and are a dark, dark green with very prominent whitish-yellow veins. The appearance of the leaves makes me think of "dragon wings" so I have added another name to the kettle of appelations! I call it my "Dragon Plant"! This plant does extremely well in very "mulchy" type soil and loves lots of water as long as it is not standing in a puddle! I have mine outside in partial shade and water it once a day. Today, I noticed that it had a bloom. It is just a small sheath with a called a spathe with a spike called a spadix. This bloom is not nearly as impressive as the leaves, though. Being a hybrid, there is the big chance that even if it makes seeds, they will not produce new plants.

I do like this plant and will try to maintain it. I did find that being a tropical sort of plant, it will not tolerate freezes and will have to be moved indoors. Dragon Plant...I like my name better than the others..it just lends sort of a mystique about an already unusual looking plant.