Plant of the September
The elegance of Alocasia

The Alocasia
It’s a striking compact houseplant covered in a deep green roof of leaves tempting you to touch them: the Alocasia brings an exciting bit of rainforest into your own home.

An impressive leaf pattern
If you appreciate style, want to give a unique gift, or seriously want to bond with nature, take the plunge with an Alocasia: a natural, earthy look that’s stunning to boot. Although the Alocasia sometimes produces flowers, it’s much better known for its foliage. Its young leaves are a glossy light green that later change to grey-green with conspicuous, thickened, almost white nerves. They sometimes even look rather like an African shield or mask – names often used for the plant, although the Alocasia is not endemic to Africa.

Tête-à-tête
Alocasia comes from the family Araceae and grows in the wild in Southeast Asia and particularly in Borneo. Having passed from one palace and orangery to the next, the plant settled into Europe where the nobility, inspired by the plant’s protective leaves, used to call a tête-à-tête an à la Alocasia. Actually, the plant’s leafy roof talks to its owner: if you see gaps between the ‘roofing tiles’, the Alocasia is saying ‘immerse my soil in water’. But this is rare as it is an easy housemate, tolerating the kind of low humidity levels that central heating produces.

Happy Housemate
Best location: light but not in full sun. It tolerates a shady spot but will then need less water
Best temperature: 18-22ºC
Best care: mist with decalcified water (or rainwater), immerse the pot in water once a week and allow to drain; dust the leaves with a damp cloth on a regular basis
Best tip: as it can shed moisture from the undersides of its leaves, it can form droplets on the leaves that in turn can damage wooden surfaces and floors.

Bet you didn’t know
In India, the Alocasia is thought to bring serenity and harmony, and thus happiness, into the home. Consequently they consider the best location to be a corner ‘so that the walls and ceiling can reflect the happiness it generates and thus embrace the inhabitants’.

In artistic circles, larger specimens are currently a big hit as Alocasia are seen as a trendy way of ‘doing the green thing’; after all, nobody needs an overrated work of art when they can have a ‘designed by nature’ original to attract attention!