The reason I referred to "mature leaves" is because in many, if not most, Alocasias, the seedlings or juveniles have leaf tissue connecting the two "ears" on the leaf. As they mature, odoras keep some tissue there but macs lose it altogether. In a typical EE, there are only two "ears" or lobes, so to refer to them as "anterior" would imply that there is a "posterior" set as well, which there isn't.
As far as other species that could be confused with odora, for one, there is A. wentii, which has peltate leaves (so much leaf tissue between the ears that the ears are hardly distinguishable as separate ears anymore). However, bringing that up opens a can of worms because the blooms on A. wentii look and smell just like odora blooms! Sorting that issue out will require some scientific investigation.
One way I tell odora from calidora is that in odora, the leaves are nearly completely smooth between the veins. In calidora, there is some degree of puckering or wrinkling of the leaf tissue between the veins. I cannot say that this is a sure-fire diagnostic for telling the two apart, but if I were shown two plants and told that one was odora and the other was calidora, then asked to tell them apart, I could do it.
If have a calidora F2 with so much puckering between the veins that I call it "calidora bullata". It is smaller than the calidora on the market, but thicker looking overall.
Hope this helps,
LariAnn
