Alocasia sinuata Variegated

Glossy, quilted, and heavily marbled.

Alocasia sinuata is the one people stop at. The leaf is thick and stiff with a hard, almost lacquered gloss, venation sunk deep into the blade, and the tissue between the veins rising into quilted pads. The margins run in long waves, which is where the species gets its name. It is a small plant with a leaf that behaves like a much larger one.

The variegated form takes that surface and breaks it up. Cream through pale butter yellow, sometimes claiming half a blade cleanly, sometimes scattering into fine green marbling and speckling across a pale ground. Some leaves come through almost entirely pale. Because the variegation is chimeric, it lands differently on every leaf and on every plant.

Why gloss changes what variegation does

Matte-leaved variegates absorb light. Sinuata does not. The lacquered surface reflects, so the cream sectors read bright and hard rather than soft, and the quilting throws the whole thing into relief. Pale tissue on a raised pad catches the light; the same tissue in a sunken vein channel drops into shadow. The variegation follows the sculpture of the leaf instead of sitting flat across it.

Why this form rarely surfaces

Standard sinuata is uncommon. The variegated form is scarcer again. Chimeric variegation cannot be guaranteed through tissue culture, so supply is limited to what comes true from variegated parent stock rather than to production capacity. It reaches the trade in ones and twos.

What you are getting

Each plant is established with four to five leaves, every one carrying variegation, propagated from variegated parent stock. Ships established in Fluval Stratum, with a free pot and pon included.

We grow ours in our own pon mix, blended from components in our Soil Ninja range.

The drop

Four plants. Each, with free pot and pon included. Sunday at 4pm.

Delivery is free on everything over £75, so add a bag of pon or a second plant and it ships free.

The collector list gets first access. Anything left after the list moves opens to the wider audience at the higher price.