Plant Encyclopedia

Other Names:  African Mask, Alligator Plant

Description:

This small variety produces attractive, deep green heart shaped leaves with contrasting, thick white spines and veins; this striking tropical makes a great houseplant; prefers bright, indirect sunlight

Features & Attributes

Amazon Elephant's Ear is primarily valued in the home for its ornamental upright and spreading habit of growth. It features solitary conical creamy white hooded flowers rising above the foliage in mid summer. Its attractive large glossy heart-shaped leaves remain dark green in color with distinctive white veins and tinges of chartreuse throughout the year.

This is an open herbaceous evergreen houseplant with an upright spreading habit of growth. Its wonderfully bold, coarse texture is quite ornamental and should be used to full effect. This plant usually looks its best without pruning, although it will tolerate pruning.

Planting & Growing

When grown indoors, Amazon Elephant's Ear can be expected to grow to be about 3 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 3 feet. It grows at a medium rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for approximately 5 years. This houseplant performs well in both bright or indirect sunlight and strong artificial light, and can therefore be situated in almost any well-lit room or location. It prefers to grow in average to moist soil. The surface of the soil shouldn't be allowed to dry out completely, and so you should expect to water this plant once and possibly even twice each week. Be aware that your particular watering schedule may vary depending on its location in the room, the pot size, plant size and other conditions; if in doubt, ask one of our experts in the store for advice. It is not particular as to soil type or pH; an average potting soil should work just fine. Be warned that parts of this plant are known to be toxic to humans and animals, so special care should be exercised if growing it around children and pets.

There are many factors that will affect the ultimate height, spread and overall performance of a plant when grown indoors; among them, the size of the pot it's growing in, the amount of light it receives, watering frequency, the pruning regimen and repotting schedule. Use the information described here as a guideline only; individual performance can and will vary. Please contact the store to speak with one of our experts if you are interested in further details concerning recommendations on pot size, watering, pruning, repotting, etc.

-- THIS IS A HOUSEPLANT AND IS NOT MEANT TO SURVIVE THE WINTER OUTDOORS IN OUR CLIMATE --