Thursday, January 22, 2015

The Name Game

Numerous spathes turning into seed capsules
Alocasia odora

Whenever I see a large biga I always assume that it is Alocasia macrorrhiza. But when I saw one in a ditch last week, Ray Ong called it by another scientific name, Alocasia odora.  He said that A. macrorrhiza is usually smaller and A. odora large.  But some botanists would lump it up all as A. macrorrhiza.  Another thing confusing is that in one location, there were different forms.  One is all green (leaves and stem), the other had brown speckled stems (regarded as zebra stripes hence the Latin monicker zebrina).  One even has more round leaves than the others. From afar they all look the same.  I wonder if all of them are A. odora...or A. macrorrhiza...or another species.

A grove of Alocasia

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