Species
Colocasia esculenta
Common Name(s)
taro
Authority
Colocasia esculenta ( L. ) Schott
Family
Araceae
Flora Category
Vascular - Exotic
Structural Class
Monocotyledonous Herbs
Habitat
Widely cultivated in many different forms.
Features
Robust perennial to about 2 m tall in good conditions. Very large ovate-cordate leaves to 50 cm long, with the stalk attached well inside the leaf margin. Very variable, leaves and stalks can be white mottled, green, reddish or purple tinged to almost black. The flower is stout and shorter than the petioles. Plants seldom flower and fruit even more rarely.
Similar Taxa
Can be distinguished from other members of the Araceae family by the shield-like leaves with the stalk attached well inside the leaf margin (peltate).
Flower Colours
Orange
Year Naturalised
1867
Origin
Wild in S.E. Asia; cultivated throughout the Pacific.
Reason For Introduction
Unknown
Reproduction
Plants rarely fruit, most reproduction is vegetative from fragments.
Seed
Rarely produced.
Poisonous plant:
All parts of the plant are poisonous. The roots and leaves may be eaten after cooking.
This page last updated on 5 Dec 2010