ALOCASIA REGINULA ‘BLACK VELVET’
CULTIVAR DESCRIPTION: Alocasia reginula ‘Black Velvet’ is a cultivar of Alocasia reginula which has become synonymous with the species.
The cultivar was known as far back as 1992, when Scott Hyndman introduced it to the market simply as Alocasia ‘Black Velvet’. He got the plant from the Lyon Arboretum in Hawaii, who purportedly received it from a collector in Japan.
Scott theorizes a Japanese orchidologist may have discovered it in Borneo while looking for orchids and collected a single individual, or was only successful in cultivating one individual. That one plant was put into tissue culture with Agristarts and became the cultivar we now grow as Alocasia reginula ‘Black Velvet’.
What is believed to be a mutated cultivar of Alocasia reginula ‘Black Velvet’ has appeared on the market in recent years, sold as Alocasa reginula ‘Black Ninja’, Alocasia ‘Black Ninja’ or Alocasia ‘Black Velvet Ninja’.
Alocasia reginula 'Black Ninja' on top, Alocasia reginula 'Black Velvet' on the bottom
There is no consensus whether this should be considered a separate cultivar, as there are reports that once matured, it becomes indistinguishable from Alocasia reginula ‘Black Velvet’.
Photo by JJ’s Plant Paradise
