Differences Between Alocasia cucullata and Alocasia macrorrhizos: A Quick Guide to Telling Them Apart

Alocasia cucullata and Alocasia macrorrhizos are both evergreen plants, very well suited to being grown as indoor foliage pot plants. Because these two plants look quite similar, many people mistakenly think they are the same plant. In fact, Alocasia cucullata and Alocasia macrorrhizos are not the same plant; the two often differ in fundamental ways, and as long as we observe and compare them carefully, we can tell them apart quite easily. So what are the differences between Alocasia cucullata and Alocasia macrorrhizos?

Although Alocasia cucullata and Alocasia macrorrhizos are not the same plant, both belong to the genus Alocasia in the family Araceae, being different varieties of the same family and genus. The most obvious difference between them is that Alocasia cucullata usually has a rather short, small plant form, with a thick, short rhizome, and its fleshy stem can reach 1 m; Alocasia macrorrhizos, by contrast, usually grows a very tall, thick above-ground stem, some reaching as high as 2-3 m, and the height of the whole plant can even reach 5 m.

Besides the difference in rhizome, the flowering periods of Alocasia cucullata and Alocasia macrorrhizos are not the same either. Alocasia cucullata generally flowers in May, while Alocasia macrorrhizos can flower almost all year round, though its shade tolerance is usually somewhat poorer than that of Alocasia cucullata. If it is kept in too shady a spot, Alocasia macrorrhizos tends not to flower. And the conditions Alocasia macrorrhizos needs in order to flower are usually stricter than those for Alocasia cucullata.

Although the leaves of Alocasia cucullata and Alocasia macrorrhizos stay green all year round and look somewhat similar in shape, a closer look also allows you to tell them apart. The leaves of Alocasia cucullata are usually a bit smaller and narrower than those of Alocasia macrorrhizos, with more pointed leaf tips, and the leaf colour is mostly dark green; the leaves of Alocasia macrorrhizos look much broader and larger, and the leaf colour is mostly tender green, very eye-catching. Put the two potted plants side by side for comparison, and the difference is quite obvious.

Of course, besides the obvious features in the aspects above that can distinguish the two, we can also tell them apart by many other aspects, for example their growth habits are not entirely the same either, and in some respects the difference is even quite large. Of course, as long as we pay a little more attention in daily life, we can generally distinguish them easily by plant form, leaf shape, flowering and so on. And the most direct method is simply to place potted plants of the two, grown under normal conditions, side by side and make a comparison.