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Of all the Jewel Alocasias, this one has the award for the thickest leaf, as well as the most heavily textured leaf. If you didn't know this was a real plant, you'd have good reason to believe this plant was made from plastic. It is real, though, and you, too, can try growing it. That is, if you know how to care for Jewels. . .
A Rough Character
The idea of "Jewels" encompasses delicate, exquisite beauty and great value. Paradoxically, this particular Jewel looks and feels as though it is ready for harsh, rather than royal, treatment. This plant is available commercially under the name Alocasia rugosa, but the accurate scientific name is almost certainly A. melo. This "Rugose Jewel" is endemic to Sabah, Borneo, and was first described as A. melo in 1997. Specimens grown for the horticultural market are produced from tissue culture plantlets or more rarely, from offsets or corms, not seedlings.
The descriptive term "rugosa" refers to the distinctively rugose (wrinkled) and bullate (knobbly, puckered) leaves (see photo detail, left). The overall look of the plant indicates that it grows under conditions where drying out is likely. In fact, the native habitat of this plant is the rain forest. However, in the rain forest it is found growing in rock crevices and on thin soil along steep banks of fast flowing streams. So while high humidity is the norm, high aeration to the root zone is also the norm. On days when rain falls scantily or not at all, one can easily imagine this plant drying out on those steep banks or in the rock crevices. This information is valuable because it tells the would-be jewel grower what type of conditions are likely to lead to success in growing this Rugose Jewel.
High and Dry?
Your first consideration is to provide high humidity and moderate light for this plant. The native habitat described above would indicate that exposure to full sun is infrequent. During parts of the day, the plant is probably in deep shade under overhanging foliage. The next consideration is the soil medium, which must be very loose and fast draining to keep a high level of aeration to the root zone. I've had success growing these plants by allowing the medium to become almost completely dried out between waterings. A good soil medium should contain a minimum of peat, and ample amounts of washed Perlite, silica sand, and just enough composted organic matter to hold some moisture. Fertilization should be light but regular, and with that regimen, your Rugose Jewel will grow surprisingly rapidly.
These plants are amazingly intolerant of too much moisture. My first specimen, for which I paid dearly, become submerged briefly after a big storm. Even after being rescued and dried, the plant promptly succumbed to total rot. Nothing I could do would reverse the extreme shock the plant went into. The lesson is that you should never allow your Rugose Jewel to become waterlogged, even for just a few hours. This means, of course, that you have to keep your plant out of the rain and under cover. By the way, this is a good rule of thumb to use when growing any of the Jewel Alocasias.
Where can I get one?
These plants can sometimes be found at specialty nurseries or garden centers in the Spring, especially if the store specializes in exotic tropicals. I know of one wholesale grower who produces a lot of these plants and ships them all around the country to nurseries and garden centers. The Garden WatchDog shows one nursery, Green Sunshine, that lists this plant as available. Rugose Jewels do not grow very large and can be maintained in a 6" pot for several years. After that time, you should have several plants in the pot. If you are quite confident about your Jewel growing ability, you can try separating them and growing on the little corms you find when you unpot your plant. These Jewels are interesting to own, fun to touch, and easy to keep if you remember to keep the soil on the dry side most of the time.
LariAnn has been gardening and working with plants since her teenage years growing up in Maryland. Her intense interest in plants led her to college at the University of Florida, where she obtained her Bachelor's degree in Botany and Master of Agriculture in Plant Physiology. In the late 1970s she began hybridizing Alocasias, and that work has expanded to Philodendrons, Anthuriums, and Caladiums as well. She lives in south Florida with her partner and son and is research director at Aroidia Research, her privately funded organization devoted to the study and breeding of new, hardier, and more interesting aroid plants.
Posted by bluandaxel (from Delray Beach, FL) on April 8, 2008 at 7:46 AM:
is this a hardwood tree?
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Posted by LariAnn (from Miami, FL) on April 8, 2008 at 8:51 AM:
Is Alocasia rugosa a hardwood tree? No.
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Subject: alocasia
Posted by suzrich (from Houma, LA) on April 7, 2008 at 3:22 PM:
I bought an alocasia w/dark greenish-blackleaves and white veining. How can I propagate it? It only has 2 leaves and it hasn't put out any growth, but it hasn't died. Please help me . Thanks for your time Suzanne
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Posted by LariAnn (from Miami, FL) on April 7, 2008 at 4:15 PM:
Suzanne,
Several Alocasia species meet that description so it would help if you could show me a picture of it. If the plant has just two leaves, it is probably not yet ready to propagate. If it is the species I think it is, there will be little corms formed in the soil and those are what you use to propagate it. The corms may take a while to sprout, but will likely sprout in a month or so after you remove them and plant them in their own pot. To see if there are any, gently unpot the plant and look to see if any are visible where the soil met the pot.
LariAnn
Aroidia Research
...
Posted by summerkid (from Kankakee, IL) on April 7, 2008 at 5:57 PM:
LariAnn, I always love reading your articles because you present scholarly information in a way that means something to me, so I remember it! Now I can decipher anything with "rugosa" in its name.
The descriptive term "rugosa" refers to the distinctively rugose (wrinkled) and bullate (knobbly, puckered) leaves (see photo detail, left). The overall look of the plant indicates that it grows under conditions where drying out is likely. In fact, the native habitat of this plant is the rain forest. However, in the rain forest it is found growing in rock crevices and on thin soil along steep banks of fast flowing streams. So while high humidity is the norm, high aeration to the root zone is also the norm. On days when rain falls scantily or not at all, one can easily imagine this plant drying out on those steep banks or in the rock crevices. This information is valuable because it tells the would-be jewel grower what type of conditions are likely to lead to success in growing this Rugose Jewel.
These plants are amazingly intolerant of too much moisture. My first specimen, for which I paid dearly, become submerged briefly after a big storm. Even after being rescued and dried, the plant promptly succumbed to total rot. Nothing I could do would reverse the extreme shock the plant went into. The lesson is that you should never allow your Rugose Jewel to become waterlogged, even for just a few hours. This means, of course, that you have to keep your plant out of the rain and under cover. By the way, this is a good rule of thumb to use when growing any of the Jewel Alocasias.
