Alocasia Amazonica leaf on 9-22-09, #39-1.
Alocasia Amazonica
a-loh-KAY-see-uh am-uh-ZOH-nik-uh
Alocasia longiloba x Alocasia sanderiana
a-loh-KAY-see-uh lon-JEE-loh-buh
x
a-loh-KAY-see-uh san-der-ee-AH-nuh
ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY AWARD OF GARDEN MERIT
This is one of the plants Suzanne bought from Lowe’s in December 2008 or January 2009.
The tag said Alocasia amazonica ‘Polly’ but research has shown a very interesting story about the name. Since I know the story, or at least where to find it, I am not going to go into all the details. Just a reminder to myself, though, it is on the Exotic Rainforest website. At any rate, the name is NOT Alocasia amazonica as that name is NOT a species of Alocasia, and should be written Alocasia Amazonica for some strange reason which I never quite understood… The name ‘Polly’ is just an industry name, which used to be ‘Poly’.
Alocasia longiloba Miq. is the correct scientific name for one of the parents of Alocasia Amazonica. It was described by Friedrich Anton Wilhelm Miquel in Flora van Nederlandsch Indie in 1855. The other parent, Alocasia sanderiana hort ex W.Bull was described by William Bull in his Catalog of New Beautiful and Rare Plants Offered By William Bull in 1894. It was first described in Garden Chronicles in 1885.
Kind of confusing, but originally Alocasia Amazonica was thought to be a hybrid of Alocasia watsoniana Hort. x Alocasia sanderiana Hort. Then botanists, namely Alistair Hay, figured out that Alocasia watsoniana was a synonym of Alocasia longiloba Mig. Well, Alocasia longiloba was also confused with 25 other synonyms.
THERE ARE SEVERAL LINKS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE FOR FURTHER READING.
2010
Alocasia Amazonica on 9-15-10, #59-2.
The pot was getting pretty full, so I divided it into three. One I put in the ground in the flower bed by the den where someone gave one of the leaves a purity good nibble… That leaf was STILL on this plant when I gave it away in February 2013 (see photo 139-4 farther down below).
USEFUL INFORMATION:
Family: Araceae
Origin: Hybrid
Zones: USDA Zones 11 (45° F)
Size: 18” tall +
Light: Part to full shade
Soil: Well-drained soil, organic soil
Water: Prefers consistently moist soil
Alocasia Amazonica on 9-15-10, #59-3.
I put one of the other Alocasia Amazonica on a table under a Crape Myrtle tree in the backyard. It really liked this spot and did really well there.
Missouri Botanical Garden’s information about this plant lists it as Alocasia x amazonica.
I could never figure out why the name isn’t written Alocasia ‘Amazonica’ since it is a hybrid, just like all the other hybrids with a parenthesis around the name. I have noticed that some websites, including Dave’s Garden, are now using the parenthesis. OH, maybe that is because if you use the industry name, ‘Polly’, it has to be in the parenthesis…
I found one website that says “Alocasia Polly and Alocasia amazonica are both hybrid plants. The two are basically the same except for their size….” It goes on to say that the “Polly” variety is a bit smaller. GEEZ!!! I liked how they didn’t capitalize, italicize, or put either name in parenthesis at first. Folks, Amazonica “Polly” is an industry name for Alocasia ‘Amazonica’ or Amazonica… The same plant. Or at least the same name for all the plants produced from the original hybrid, of which there have been thousands. Thousands and thousands because “this” plant was widely sold in big chain garden centers throughout the country. Under the incorrect name Alocasia amazonica ‘Polly’.
There were no photos of this plant taken in 2011 for some strange reason…
2012
Alocasia Amazonica ‘Polly’ on 11-18-12, #129-1.
I had decided to put all the Alocasia Amazonica back together in a larger pot. They are in the big window in the den for the winter in the above photo taken on 11-18-12.
2013
Alocasia Amazonica on 2-17-13, #139-4.
I really liked this Alocasia and it gave me very little problems. In fact, I had no problems with it. It stayed in the den for the most part except for when I put it outside during the summer. It did send up a few offsets over the years I had it, but not that many compared to the other Alocasia. The leaves were very thick and lasted a very long time compared to the other Alocasia, too… The way I noticed that the leaves lasted a long time is from the above photo… The tip of the larger leaf is missing… The same leaf that was chewed on in the photo taken on 9-15-10 (#59-2). It is the second photo on this page.
When I moved back to the farm in mid-Missouri in February 2013 I didn’t bring this plant with me. I guess I thought it would be readily available so I gave it to Walley. I was sadly mistaken because I haven’t seed this plant available at Lowe’s since 2014. I should have bought one… Now, I may have to buy one online because I really do like this plant.
I hope you enjoyed this page. Be sure to check out the interesting information about this plant on the Exotic Rainforest website. Their entire website is AWESOME!!!
I hope you enjoyed this page and maybe found it useful. If you have any comments, questions or suggestions, I would like to hear from you. Please click on “like” if you visited this page. It helps us bloggers stay motivated. 🙂 You can check out the links below for further reading. The links take you directly to the genus and species of this plant.
The Belmont Rooster 
Please don’t promulgate the misidentification of Alocasia ‘Poly’ as the same as Alocasia ‘Amazonica.’ Poly was a dwarf form discovered by Bill and Denis Rotolante at their nursery prior to 2000. It has puckered leaves (Amazonica’s are smooth) of which it carries far more than its parent cultivar. I has also proven so much better suited to life as a houseplant that it quickly replaced the larger, sparser and finickier Amazonica, which has not been in production in the US or Europe for well over a decade and pushing two.
As of this winter, 2019-2020, an improved Poly was released that retains the size and fullness of the original but has longer, narrower, smooth leaves that are expected to appeal more than the puckered shorter leaves.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hello Robert! Thanks for the information. It is always good to correct information. I will make adjustments and write better information soon. Thanks again!
LikeLike