Common Name: giant taro
Family: Araceae
Common Synonyms: none
USDA Hardiness Zone: 8b-11
Growth Habit: Herb
Origin: Tropical Asia
FISC Category: -
FDACS Listed Noxious Weed: No
Introduction Date: Earliest Florida specimen available vouchered in 2000
IFAS Assessment:
Large herb to 5 m tall with large erect stems up to 1 m long. Leaves large, ovate-triangular. Stalked inflorescences. Spathe white to yellowish, 13-35 cm long, 4-6 cm wide, the upper part withering. Spadix nearly as long as spathe, 11-32 cm long. Berries red, ovoid, 8-10 mm in diameter.
Wet disturbed thickets
Cultivated widely in the tropics for its starchy stem tubers, used as a famine food in areas. Considered invasive in Cuba, Hawaii, Fiji, and other Pacific Islands.
NA
CABI. 2014. Invasive Species Compendium: Datasheet, Alocasia macrorrhizos. http://www.cabi.org/isc/datasheet/4220. Accessed on June 25, 2014.
Dave's Garden. 2014. PlantFiles: Upright Elephant Ear, Alocasia macrorrhizos. http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/53227/. Accessed on June 17, 2014.
PIER. 2014. Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (PIER): Alocasia macrorrhizos. http://www.hear.org/pier/species/alocasia_macrorrhizos.htm. Accessed on June 25, 2014.
Wunderlin, R. P., and B. F. Hansen. 2008. Atlas of Florida Vascular Plants (http://florida.plantatlas.usf.edu/).[S. M. Landry and K. N. Campbell (application development), Florida Center for Community Design and Research.] Institute for Systematic Botany, University of South Florida, Tampa.