Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott

Wild Taro; Coco Yam; Elephant's Ear

Herb

Perennial

Vascular

Wild Taro is an introduced herbaceous perennial in the Arum family (Araceae). Wild Taro is one of the oldest cultivated plants and its origins are obscure. It is believed to have been native to Malaysia, but was in cultivation in India and other parts of Southeast Asia as early as 5000 BC. Today it occurs in tropical and subtropical areas worldwide. In Alabama it occurs in the southern two-thirds of the state. Wild Taro occurs in wet ditches, along the margins of ponds and lakes, on the banks of rivers and creeks, in swamps and marshes, and in hardwood floodplain forests. It is perennial from a large starchy underground corm with elongate horizontal stolons. Leaves are petiolate, peltate in outline, glaucous, glabrous, with entire margins. The petiole is spongy and filled with air spaces. The large leaves can be as tall as 9 feet. The inflorescence is a spathe and spadix. The spathe wraps around the flowers on the spadix. The basal portion of the spathe is green and the upper portion is cheese yellow in color. The spadix has pistillate green flowers near the base and yellow staminate flowers above. There are often some sterile white flowers between the pistillate and staminate flowers. The tip end of the spadix is sterile and yellow in color. The fruit is berry-like with large seed. Wild Taro is cultivated as an ornamental (Elephant Ears) and as a food crop. Both the foliage and corms contain calcium oxalate crystals and raphides that must be removed by cooking and soaking in water before eating. Eating raw portions of the plant can lead to burning and swelling of lips, mouth, tongue, and throat, difficulty of speech, difficulty in swallowing, and possible death. Wild Taro is listed as a Category 2 Invasive Species by the Alabama Invasive Plant Council.--A. Diamond

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Not Native FACW (NWPL)

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