Alocasia portei

An enormous, rhizomatous,, upright growing species, native to the Philippines, where it grows in wet, humid forests. Plants can reach over 6m in height in habitat, with a stem up to 40cm in diameter at the base, although smaller when grown in containers in cultivation. It produces deeply indented, elongated, arrowhead-shaped leaves, which are dark green above, with pale green veins that can reach 1.5m long. The leaf stalks are up to 1.5m long and green, mottled with chocolate brown. Flowers consist of a pinkish-cream sheath-like spathe and a pinkish-cream spadix or column. If fertilised, the spadix is covered in bright orange berries. These are of secondary interest, however, to the plant’s spectacular foliage