ALocasia micholitziana has been around for many years. It is a species plant that comes from the Philippines. It has two forms, which were identified by aroid botanist Alistair Hay: the narrow leaf form, and the wide leaf form. The wide leaf form is the most common and is frequently sold under the name Alocasia 'Frydek'. This is not a cultivar name, however. This is a trade name that was given to the plant by a tic cue culture company who wanted a unique identifier to market the plant.
I have had the wide leaf form for many years. It is a velvety alocasia, deep green to sometimes almost black sometimes with brilliant white veining.
There is also a variegated form, variegation can be extremely variable with colors of white, cream, lime green and dark green or more subdued with patching of different colors of green. Plants can throw different colors and patterns at any time as the variegation is chimeric non-patterned.

The care of this plant is considered to be the same for the alocasias like Poly and to a lesser extent the jewels. They like bright light but not full sun, adequate water in a very well draining mix, great air movement, warmth and high humidity. Their leaves are softer and thinner than alocasias like Poly. They will go dormant in the cooler months if conditions diverge from what they like, especially light. Water should be reduced in the cooler months as well.

These are photos of my plants. Post yours!!!!!!

My alocasia micholitziana just arrived yesterday! Mine is the "fake" cultivar 'Frydek'.

The first variegated one is a gem! Like I say about all your plants, it's so gorgeous.

How are the jewel alocasias different than the poly and micholitziana in care? I'd like to get a cuprea someday, but maybe I shouldn't if they require much higher standards than poly.

Poly is what I consider a 'normal' alocasia. It likes high humidity, warmth, lots of light and a well draining mix so it can get a fair amount of water.
Cuprea and the other jewels are kind of more like succulents that like high humidity. Even in a chunky mix they need a lot less water

Oh, so jewel alocasias are kind of easier. That's a relief. I don't find my basic alocasias to be particularly hard to keep happy, though. I think the fear of a plant being hard to keep alive, is usually what gets to people and makes them slip up, thus killing their plant.

I actually am finding alocasias, and aroids in general, to be quite adaptable plants. It's a good thing for me because I'm one of those people who automatically think "this plant is so beautiful - I'm probably going to kill it somehow".

I can't decide between cuprea, silver dragon, and now you added the variegated micholitziana to my list. I have a long way to go until my birthday, so I guess I have time to think... and time to save money.

No actually they are a lot harder. They are temperamental. Everything kind of has to be right. Its hard to explain. The soil mix has to be correct, the light and humidity. But overwatering is sure death to a jewel alocasia.

Gina1960 said:No actually they are a lot harder. They are temperamental. Everything kind of has to be right. Its hard to explain. The soil mix has to be correct, the light and humidity. But overwatering is sure death to a jewel alocasia.

Ope, welp, that made me nervous. Maybe I should go for a nice variegated philodendron Florida beauty instead...

My honest advice? Just grow some more mundane plants for a while before you decide to really cop for the coin its gonna take to get an ALocasia cuprea, Silver Dragon, or something like a Philo Florida Beauty variegated. You expressed doubts about being able to accommodate an Epipremnum pinnatum 'Skeleton Key', that is one of the easiest things to grow, like the houseplant that people call Devil's Ivy or erroneously Pothos (which are other forms of Epipremnum pinnatum). All you have to do with that is give it something to climb.

Philodendron Florida Beauty is also a climber, so if you cannot provide for the smaller epipremnum you may have trouble with the Philodendron which is larger and requires more space.

Oh, I have lots of pothos. I didn't really know epipremnum skeleton key was the same species as a golden pothos. When you google golden pothos, it says it's epipremnum aureum.

Maybe I should move to a true tropical climate before getting any more huge climbers. Otherwise, I'll have to keep cutting them down each time they attempt to climb farther than the LEDs. I've thought about making my alocasias go dormant during the winter as well, given my poor window lighting.

Plants called 'Pothos' which are really in the genus Epipremnum have different species. The plants Neon, Jade and Pearls, Marble Queen, NJoy, etc are all just cultivars from sports of the original green Epipremnum. 'Brasil' is often mis-classified as a 'Pothos' but it is actually a Philodendron. "Pothos' (the true genus not the houseplant) itself is a genus of vining aroids native to the jungle. Most species are unavailable to the US plant trade, those that have made it here are traded and sold (usually pretty expensively) by terrarium and vivarium enthusiasts. Only a few species of true Pothos are interesting enough to be of interest to the general houseplant person. They are more used as climbers in habitats.

I have 'Marble Queen', 'Neon', and 'Golden' pothos varieties. I have 'Brasil' but always knew it was a philo and not a pothos. Their growth habit is a bit too different to confuse one with the other once you look closely. So common pothos isn't really a true pothos? That's funny, but also pretty common in classifications like that.

My issue with skeleton key vs. golden pothos is that they're still two different species. Wouldn't their care still be different? Monstera adansonii and deliciosa are both in the same genus, but adansonii wants higher humidity and light, I believe. I just wanted to make sure I knew exactly what I had to do for the skeleton key specifically. It isn't a plant I want to risk killing.

No, Epipremnum regardless of species are pretty much the same. If you try to grow them in a basket where they 'hang over', and trail down, they will grow long stems but the leaves stay small. If you take the same plant and put the plant on a totem that lets it go UP, the leaves get progressively bigger and then start to fenestrate like a Monstera. They all exhibit 'seeking' behaviors; that is, they will travel across the forest floor rooting along the way until they find something, anything, to climb. Then they start upwards and start to morph. Juvenile leaves and adult leaves are totally different in looks.

The confusion arises because the common houseplant Epipremnum aureus was once a part (a long LONG time ago) of the genus Pothos but was removed when it became apparent that taxonomically it belonged to a different genus. 'Skeleton Key' is a unique mutation of Epipremnum pinnate (there are a few forms of E. pinnatum) that was apparently a spontaneous whole plant mutation. Back 12 or so years ago when it was new a very small plant or cutting was about $50 each.

I imagine a fenestrated epipremnum aureus, is very pretty. I wonder if a fenestrated marble queen looks similar to a thai constellation deliciosa.

I've only heard about skeleton key from you and a few other people on YouTube. I'm surprised it's relatively new. Is it still an uncommon plant to find for sale? I was only able to find a few for sale online.

Yes, its not a common plant up for sale. People do trade it sometimes. No the fenestrated leaves of the Epipremnums (aureum and pinnatum) don't progress to the look of Monstera deliciosa. They split on the sides and when the specimen is really old the leaf will be more elongate and split (so that the aureums look are like pinnatiums) but they don't have the same shape of leaf that Monstera has. Juvenile plants look very similar, although the first entire leaves on Monstera (whether green or variegated) are much larger than those of the Epipremnums. But a very old mature yellow and green Epipremnum leaf can look very much like a mature pinnatum leaf. And of course now there are variegated pinnatums, going for huge prices now. I only have the green form, and mine is not high enough up to have gotten the 2+ foot leaves yet

I snag a few cuttings of big epipremnum leaves sometimes when we go to the beach and bring them home. People plant it in their yards and it goes up the trees and then some always goes on the ground and starts escaping their yards and you can just snip it pretty much ad lib. They don't care, its actually considered invasive in some communities down more south of me. Like sansevieria. People planted it in their yards years ago then it took over. It can spread like a weed. Then it actually starts to LOOK like a weed. Many people in more South FL consider Epipremnum aureum and pinnate and Sansevieria to be noxious weeds. But they do provide the function of holding the sand in place in a high wind.

Mature pinnatum also looks very pretty. I can't believe our aureum can look similar when it's gets mature. You just see a plant grown a certain way for a long time, and assume that is how it looks naturally. We've been doing it all wrong with our trailing pothos, and we need to all instead invest in 20 foot poles in front of our windows!

I don't know why, but the image of epipremnum and sansevieria sprawling all over the beaches in Florida, sort of makes me laugh. I kept a mini sansevieria outside in a pot this summer, and it was in full shade, but still produced 2 pups in the tiny 4 inch pot it was housed in. I can only imagine how they'd react to more space and a little bit of sun. Also, they're probably very difficult to manage. You can't mow them down with a lawnmower!

This is one that was growing in the rental house at the beach we had in May. The tree is a strangler fig and this plant is about 12-15 feet up in the tree


This one grows here on a rock


These are just the plain common houseplant sold as 'pothos' that are growing the way they are supposed to grow in nature.

Leaves quite morphologically different from Monstera

A common pothos growing up a fig is like a double tap to someone who grows tropical plants. That's really cool, and I think the mature leaves look SO much better than the leaves we commonly see on houseplant pothos.

I think if I lived in a tropical environment, I would grow pothos/monstera/vining philo, up a ficus elastica or lyrata or maybe even a norfolk island pine. Waking up and seeing that outside your window, would be a dream. There are probably reasons people in tropical environments don't do that, though.

My friend who lives 6 miles down the street has big ones growing up his oak tree by the driveway. I have a few started, but to be honest, the ones I am encouraging to climb aren't the gold and green. I want my Neon and my Jade and Pearls to get up there. I had a huge Neon up to about 14 feet in the greenhouse years ago. I am finally getting some to go up the Kaffir Lime Tree and a few other places.

I have starts of the green and gold out in the yard. They will be fine.

'Neon' and 'Jade and Pearls' would be a sight to behold in that state. I think that was a great choice! I've found 'Neon' to be the most vigorous of the pothos variations. Every single cutting I have just takes off no matter what. I have Neon and a Golden in my fish tank, and the Neon is about three times the size of the Golden even though the Golden was added first. Another Neon cutting I had, rooted into the soil in just a couple weeks. I also threw a Neon cutting in my gecko's habitat, and it's still alive with almost no light. I have a 'Marble Queen' I bought in March, and it's grown about 4 more leaves since then. It is the slowest pothos I've ever seen. I keep it purely because it is just so beautiful.

Frydek leaf looking almost black

I was just thinking about getting a Frydek! I saw that Hirt's has them. We were planning to go this week but now everything is on lockdown.
I hope someone is able to go to the greenhouses and care for the plants during the lockdown.