ALOCASIA REGINAE
ORIGINAL DESCRIPTION:
SYNONYMS: Alocasia regina (invalidly published, not accepted)
DISTRIBUTION: Endemic to Borneo, known from only three-localities in Sarawak and Central Kalimantan
CLIMATE: Tropical humid climate
Humidity is moderate throughout the year, ranging from 60% to 70%
Temperature is varies between the seasons - within the range of 48°F/9°C to 88°F/31°C during the day. Minimum temperatures never dip below 45°F/7°C
Rainy and humid season (October to May) and a dry season between June and October. The average annual rainfall is 1,200 mm
ECOLOGY: On the floor of primary lowland rain forest: Jermy 13579 on alluvial soil with residual limestone karst; ca. 40-270 m altitude.
SPECIES DESCRIPTION:
Small herb 20-30 cm tall; rhizome ca. 1.5 cm diam.; leaves 2-4 together; petiole 10-25 cm long, sheathing in the lower 1/4-1/3, sparsely to densely minutely pubescent, green to densely spotted purple; blade broadly ovatosagittate to ovato-sagittate, 13-25 cm long, thickly leathery, dark green, paler abaxially or flushed purple throughout; margin entire to shghtly and irregularly sinuate; anterior lobe widest ca. 1/3 of the way from the base, the apex acute to obtuse and then apiculate; anterior costa with 3-4 abaxially pubescent primary lateral veins on each side diverging at 60° (proximal)-45° (distal) and with small axillary glands; secondary venation adaxially impressed, abaxially flush with the lamina to somewhat impressed (dry), conspicuous and apparently broad (ca. 1 mm) owing to pigment in the bordering lamina, forming mor-or-less well-defined interprimary collective veins at least in the outer part of the blade; posterior lobes 1/3-2/5 the length of the anterior, the inner sides very narrowly oblanceolate; posterior costae naked in the sinus for 4 mm to 1 cm, basally diverging at ca. 90-100° then somewhat to abruptly back-turned
INFLORESCENCE:
Inflorescence pairs solitary; peduncles ca. 1/3 the length of the petiole at anthesis (not or hardly elongating in fruit), subtended almost throughout their length by very narrowly lanceolate cataphylls; spathe ca. 5-7 cm long, constricted ca. 1.5-2 cm from the base; lower spathe ovoid, white, sometimes spotted purple; limb narrowly ovate, white and spotted to suffused purple; spadix distinctly shorter than to subequalling the spathe, sessile, ca. 5 cm long; female zone 1 cm long; pistils flask-shaped; style short, ca. 0.5 mm; stigma 2-3-lobed; interstice 3-5 mm long, partly naked to covered with synandrodia; male zone subcylindric, 9-15 mm long ca. 1/4-3/4 held within the lower spathe chamber; synandria rhombohexagonal, ca. 1.5 mm diam.; thecae not overtopped by synconnective; appendix 1-2 cm long tapering to somewhat obtuse, ca. 3 mm diam (dry); fruiting spathe ovoid, ca. 2.5 cm long.
VARIEGATED FORMS: WHITE, YELLOW, YELLOW MOTTLED
ETYMOLOGY: The specific epithet reginae, from the latin regina meaning queen, was given to this Alocasia as it was first introduced to the Emperor and Empress of Russia at the International Exposition of St. Petersburg in 1884 by the ‘Compagnie Continentale d'Horticulture’
NOTES:
This species is evidently closely allied to the variable Alocasia scabriuscula, differing in the smaller size overall, inflorescences in single pairs, relatively much longer peduncle and the long, narrow inflorescence cataphylls.
The description is pieced together from four incomplete collections. The type differs from the only other flowering specimen, Jermy 13579, in having a larger proportion of the male zone exserted from the lower spathe and in having the interstice covered with synandrodia.
Hotta (1967: 156) cited several specimens from Brunei and Sarawak as this species. I (A. Hay) have not seen any of the collections concerned, but it would appear from his notes (loc. cit.), in which he gives significantly larger dimensions, that these specimens are probably of A. scabriuscula.
Alocasia reginae has been in cultivation in the U.S.A. for many years, under the cultivar name Alocasia reginae 'Elaine' and the cultivar is also illustrated in Burnett (1984: 77, fig. 4).
Other specimens seen: SARAWAK: Limbang Distr., Sg. Terikan, Chew 1183 (GH, K, L, SING); G. Mulu National Park, around Sg. Berar Camp, Jermy 13579 (K). KALIMANTAN: Headwaters of Sg. Kahayan, 5 km NE of Haruwu Village, Burley et al. 527 (GH).
CULTIVARS: Alocasia reginae 'Elaine', Alocasia reginae ‘Miri’,
HYBRIDS: Alocasia ‘Albatuwan’ (A. alba x A. reginae), Alocasia ‘Silver Streak’ (A. reginae aff x A. baginda ‘Silver Dragon’), Alocasia ‘Rodigasiana’ (A. reginae x A. longiloba ‘Korthalsii’)
