ALOCASIA ‘POLLY’
Alocasia sanderiana x Alocasia longiloba ‘Watsoniana’
PARENTAGE:Alocasia ‘Amazonica’ (Alocasia sanderiana x Alocasia longiloba ‘Watsoniana’)
SYNONYMS: Alocasia ‘Poly’
HYBRIDIZER:William Rotolante, Silver Krome Gardens - 1980s¹
VARIEGATED FORMS: White (Sectoral, Mottled, Ghost), Pink
DESCRIPTION: Alocasia ‘Polly’ is a tissue-culture sport of Alocasia ‘Amazonica’ found at Silver Krome Gardens. In the Rotolantes’ account, relayed on Aroid-L by Steve Lucas, one plant among the tissue-cultured Alocasia ‘Amazonica’ liners being grown in the 1980s showed heavier leaf substance, shorter petioles, better shipping quality, and slower growth than the standard plants.¹ Tissue culture can throw somaclonal sports of this kind, many of them defective; Denis Rotolante counted ‘Poly’ among the occasional favorable changes.² The name ‘Poly’ came from the first supposition that it was a polyploid.¹ That did not hold up: Ben Zonneveld measured the same DNA content (10.1 pg) in Alocasia ‘Polly’ as in the standard tissue-cultured Alocasia ‘Amazonica’ it came from, and concluded that ‘Polly’ is not a polyploid.³ DNA tests were also reported to have disproved the idea.¹ The leaf is thicker, however: equal pieces of leaf weighed 20 mg for Alocasia ‘Polly’ and 14 mg for the standard Alocasia ‘Amazonica’.³ An application to register the cultivar ‘Polly’ was already on hand when Wilbert Hetterscheid mentioned it on Aroid-L on October 21st, 1998.⁴ While a more correct name would be Alocasia ‘Poly’, it is likely the higher familiarity of both buyers and sellers with the epithet ‘Polly’ is what made it stick.
The original cross has been one of the most prolific in the genus Alocasia, with some of its “cousins” being more famously known than the others:
Alocasia ‘Amazonica’ by Salvadore Mauro of Amazon Nursery
Alocasia ‘Balloon Heart’ - South Korea
Alocasia ‘Polly’ by Bill Rotolante of Silver Krome Gardens
Alocasia ‘Mandalay’ by Bradford Botanicals
Alocasia ‘Loco’ - by Deroose Plants
Alocasia ‘Purpley’ by Bill Rotolante of Silver Krome Gardens
Alocasia ‘Venom’ by Mason Lee of Mason Plants
Alocasia ‘Mark Campbell’ by David Fell of Hawaiian Sunshine Nursery
Alocasia ‘Mortefontanensis’ by Édouard-François André
Given the high variability of what literature labeled as Alocasia longiloba it is not surprising that the results of this cross by multiple hybridizers have produced such different hybrids. One can group Alocasia ‘Jean Merkel’ and Alocasia ‘Mark Campbell’ together, while Alocasia ‘Amazonica’, Alocasia ‘Mortefontanensis’ and Alocasia ‘Purpley’ are also closely related.
Given the high variability of what literature labeled as Alocasia longiloba it is not surprising that the results of this cross by multiple hybridizers have produced such different hybrids. One can group Alocasia ‘Jean Merkel’ and Alocasia ‘Mark Campbell’ together, while Alocasia ‘Amazonica’, Alocasia ‘Mortefontanensis’ and Alocasia ‘Purpley’ are also closely related.
HYBRIDS: Alocasia ‘Morocco’ (Alocasia ‘Aurora’ x Alocasia ‘Polly’)
HYBRID DUPES:
Sellers and buyers often confuse Alocasia ‘Polly’ with Alocasia ‘Amazonica’. The former has much more defined venation, pronounced scalopping, a thicker leaf, and has a more oval leaf shape, whereas Alocasia ‘Amazonica’ has distinct V-shaped leaves
REFERENCES:
1. Aroid-L mailing list, Steve Lucas, November 19th, 2009
2. Aroid-L mailing list, Steve Lucas, November 19th, 2009
3. Aroid-L mailing list, Ben J.M. Zonneveld, March 14th, 2002
4. Aroid-L mailing list, Wilbert Hetterscheid, October 21st, 1998
Photo by @salchiplantas_
