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I've been reading your articles. Now I have to start taking care of these guys. I used to plant them in the ground and they'd come back - sometimes. I have the odora, I believe it's the dwarf version growing to 4' high. I took one of the leaves that were ready to "go" because I feed my fish and snails in the fishtank. The koi eat the leaves outside when they get heavy and lean down to the pond. I also have the Black Magic, and the Purpley just came up as a surprise to me. I'm planting them in containers and drilling holes about halfway down. They are happy plants. But the difference between the Alocasia and the Colocasia? That I'll have to figure out. They look the same to me. I like your reference to "Big Ears".
The plant you have there is actually A. gageana, which is very closely allied to A. odora.
For me, the Colocasia is easy to distinguish, as they generally have much softer leaves with a matte finish, longer petioles, and the leaf blades are held at a right angle to the petiole. Many of the Colocasias also reproduce by underground runners. The terrestrial, or landscape Alocasias have shinier leaves, the blades are generally parallel to the petioles, petioles are shorter and stockier, and the plants reproduce by small corms, not runners.
Ah, ya, I knew that :-} I was just testing you. Fun aside, I'm figuring out why some die and this particular one still lives, the coldhardiness and soil, etc. They do well in my "green (used to be a birdhouse) house". With a small pond and and drip hose and the whole place is covered up over the winter. I'm still reading, but, they seem to do better in pots and I'm thinking it's the nematodes in the soil that get them. Or some other bug that likes roots and bulbs and corms. Oh,and I saw A. reticulatta at a local nursery and thought I'd give it a try. Thanks for the info., Nancy
