Alocasia baginda

Alocasia baginda is a small jewel Alocasia endemic to the limestone hills of East Kalimantan, Borneo, where it grows in the dappled shade of seasonally dry karst forest. The wild-type plant carries the same thick, corrugated, shield-shaped leaves and deeply recessed dark veining that made the species famous, but in a softer, more muted silvery-green than the intensified colour forms bred from it. Almost every plant sold in cultivation is one of these named colour selections: 'Dragon Scale' (deep, dense green), 'Silver Dragon' (paler, more silvery), and 'Pink Dragon' (rose-flushed new growth), rather than the plain wild type, which is rarely offered under its own name. All of them share the same compact, dwarf, clumping growth habit and the same limestone-forest origin.

Native range

Borneo (limestone hills of East Kalimantan, Indonesia)

Classification

Genus

Alocasia

Family

Araceae

Type

Wild

Growth habit

Dwarf, clumping, upright

Morphology

Leaf shape

Broadly ovateEgg-shaped leaves, with the wider end near the base., shield-like

Leaf length

15-22 cm

Leaf width

10-15 cm

Petiole colour

Short, pale green-grey

Venation

Recessed dark green veins, less pronounced than the named colour cultivars

Texture

Leathery, thick, stiff, corrugated

Variegation

N/A: solid muted silvery-green wild-type leaf; the deeper 'Dragon Scale' green and rose-flushed 'Pink Dragon' colouration are selected forms bred from this species baseline

Growth habit

Upright dwarf clumping