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Alocasia melo

Alocasia melo is a small, leathery-leaved aroid from ultramafic soils in Sabah, Borneo, often sold as Alocasia rugosa. It grows best with warmth, humidity and bright indirect light, and needs even moisture without waterlogging.

Family
Araceae (Arum family)
Grows as
Perennial
Light
Bright indirect
Water
Keep the mix evenly moist in the growing season and let the top layer dry slightly between waterings; reduce in winter.
Soil
Chunky, well-draining aroid mix with peat or coco and perlite or bark.
Temperature
18–30 °C; protect below 15 °C
How easy
Moderate
Safety
Toxic to cats and dogs (ASPCA).
Native range
Borneo (Sabah)
Climate
wet tropical

About

Alocasia melo is a species of flowering plant in the family Araceae, native to Sabah state in Malaysia. It grows on ultramafic soils. In the houseplant trade it is often sold as "Alocasia rugosa" due to its highly rugose leaves.

Where it grows

Endemic to Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. This species joins a growing list of rare and endemic plants peculiar to the ultramafic substrate in Sabah.

Other Alocasia plants

Alocasia azlanii · Alocasia baginda · Alocasia brancifolia · Cunjevoi · Chinese taro · Alocasia fornicata · Alocasia heterophylla · Alocasia infernalis · Alocasia lauterbachiana · Alocasia longiloba · Giant taro · Alocasia nebula

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Alocasia melo by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.

The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.

Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.

Pet safety from the ASPCA toxic and non-toxic plant lists.

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