Alocasia

Alocasia Plants for Sale

Alocasia is the plant people mean when they say they want a houseplant that looks like a sculpture. Thick, upright stems hold arrow-shaped leaves with pale veins drawn across them, and the whole plant angles itself toward the light through the day. It is not the easiest genus we sell, but nothing else in a pot looks like it. These are the potted, indoor-grown Alocasias; the hardy landscape Elephant Ears are a different plant for a different spot.

The Alocasias We Grow

• Alocasia Amazonica ‘Polly’ is the classic: dark, glossy, deeply scalloped leaves with bright white veins.
• Alocasia Amazonica ‘Bambino’ is the same look at a smaller scale, sized for a desk or a shelf.
• Alocasia Baginda ‘Silver Dragon’ has silver-green leaves with dark veining pressed into them like scale work.
• Alocasia Baginda ‘Dragon Scale’ is its green counterpart, with the same heavily textured, quilted surface.
• Alocasia Micholitziana ‘Frydek’ is velvet: matte black-green leaves with crisp white veins.
• Alocasia Odora ‘Batik Blizzard’ is variegated, splashed and streaked in cream, and no two plants are marked alike.
• Alocasia ‘Tiny Dancers’ breaks the mold entirely, with small cupped leaves on long stems that bob like a cluster of tiny umbrellas.

Alocasia Care

Light

Bright indirect light, and more of it than most houseplants want. An east window, or close to a south or west window with a sheer curtain between the plant and the glass. Too little light and the stems stretch and flop; direct midday sun burns holes in the leaf surface. Turn the pot a quarter turn each week or the plant will lean hard toward the window.

Water and humidity

Water when the top inch of soil is dry and let it drain completely. Alocasia dislikes sitting in a saucer of water, and cold water on a cold windowsill will stall it. Humidity is the other half of the job: dry indoor air causes brown crisping along the leaf edges, so a pebble tray, a humidifier or a cluster of plants makes a visible difference through the heating season.

Dormancy, and why yours might look dead

An Alocasia that drops leaves in late fall is usually not dying. The genus goes dormant when light and warmth drop, retreating to its corm underground. Cut back on water sharply, stop fertilizing, keep the pot somewhere warm and out of drafts, and wait. New growth typically pushes in spring. Repot in spring rather than in fall, and only when roots are circling the pot, since Alocasia flowers and grows better slightly crowded.

More Indoor Plants

Browse Indoor Ferns, Pothos, or the full Houseplants collection.