Alocasia Regal Shield

Alocasia Regal Shield

Origin: A hybrid cross of Alocasia odora and Alocasia reginula, created by LariAnn Gardner.
Size: Grows up to 4 to 5 feet tall indoors, with leaves reaching up to 2 feet long.
Toxicity: Mildly toxic to humans and pets if ingested due to oxalic acid content.

Why I Love having the Regal Shield in My Collect-Sean

My cats are very well behaved and don’t eat My plants, so for Me I don’t have to worry about the toxicity. I Love starting with a small plant of potential and watching it become as Glorious as it can be, and Regal Shield Gives Alocasia Lovers plenty of reason to be proud. The backs of the leaves are almost more beautiful than the face of the leaf, as it becomes deep purple with white viens. The new leaf above hasn’t hardened off yet, so You can get a sense of what the back of the leaf looks like when it does. You can see some of the underside on the leaf most to the right of the photo.

A Gentle Giant

This plant can get huge! The largest leaf on the plant above is already 18″ long and they generally increase in size with every new leaf. I swear the moment I brought this plant home (which was still so small I could fit it in My backpack) and placed it in it’s own ten inch pot, it exploded into growth! It has only put out two new leaves and You can see it is war King on the fourth. But no joke or exaggerate-Sean, within two days after brining it home I had to find somewhere new to place it because the leaves that were already on the plant just sized up tremendously.

A Personal Treasure to Keep

This is also the only Alocasia Regal Shield I have, so that makes it that much more precious as it Will be the Mother of all others. There were four in the pot that I purchased and I separated them all out as I always do. One died almost right away, another I Gave to a friend, one is on display, and the other also died – though that may have happened in My Friend’s care, I honestly don’t remember.

My Friend does still have one and usually Trusts Me to transplant all of her houseplants for her modest collection, so I’m hoping I may find some corms. If One doesn’t know, corms are like little seeds that look like nuts in the soil that provide the rhizome for a new plant if propagated carefully. Fortunately, because of its size it’s probably not a plant One Wishes to have too many of, but I always Love to watch a tiny corm become a giant.

Otherwise, My only hope is for this plant to produce corms if I Wish to propagate. But honestly, it is breathtaking and well worth having in One’s collection if You have Good light and lots of room. Always indirect, bright light, but the brighter the light, the faster it Will grow.