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Alocasia infernalis
Alocasia infernalis is a species of flowering plant in the family Araceae, native to Kalimantan, Indonesia and Sarawak state, Malaysia. It gets its specific epithet from its dark leaves—nearly black with purple veins—that exhibit a baleful red iridescence depending on the angle of the light and the position of the viewer. Occasionally kept as a houseplant, it has been nicknamed "Black Magic". Other names associated with Alocasia infernalis, which may represent incipient common names, or cultivars,...
From the article Alocasia infernalis on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), quoted section by section
Description
This species is a small, robust perennial herbaceous plant with a slender stem, reaching up to 55 cm (22 in) in height. Seedlings and young plants have an erect growth habit, while older plants tend to droop. Leaves are very deep purple to purple-red and glossy on top. Seedlings and juveniles have metallic-purple leaves, while the leaves of mature plants are a lustrous, deep purple-black. The petioles are about 20 cm long and have a bronze-green to purple-green coloration with prominent veins. Two paired flowers, pale green or tinged purple, are borne together, with a short, broad prophyll and a single cataphyll. The fruits of Alocasia infernalis are small, spherical berries, 0.5 cm in diameter, which are bright orange to red when mature. Each berry has 1 to 3 seeds, which are medium brown with a flattish oval shape.
Range & habitat
It is native to the Kapit Division in Sarawak, Malaysia, and thus far is known only from scattered populations in the watershed of the Sungai Gaat river.
Wikipedia: “Distribution”
What it does
It is found in moist to ever-wet lowland forests of valley bottoms, where it grows in red sandstone-derived clay-loam substrates with deep leaf litter cover and heavy shade.
Wikipedia: “Habitat and ecology”
How it is grown
Alocasia infernalis is occasionally kept as a houseplant, and a cultivar named 'Viery' has been developed.
== References ==
Wikipedia: “Cultivation”
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Alocasia infernalis in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 1233677.