Colocasia gigantea

Colocasia gigantea, also called giant elephant ear or Indian taro, is a 1.5–3 m tall herb with a large, fibrous corm, producing at its apex a whorl of large leaves. The leaf stalk is used as a vegetable in some areas in South East Asia and Japan. Known as dọc mùng in Vietnam (bạc hà in some provinces in southern Vietnam), it is often used in canh chua and bún. In Japanese, it is called hasu-imo (literally, "lotus yam") in general and ryukyu in Kōchi Prefecture as it is originated in Ryukyu Kingdom. It is sometimes used as an ingredient of miso soup, chanpurū and sushi. A Japanese term zuiki means the leaf stalk of both C. gigantea and C. esculenta. Higo-zuiki, made of a dried stalk and produced solely in Kumamoto Prefecture (or Higo Province), is a sex toy with a history of several hundred years, containing saponin which is considered to affect sexual pleasure.Colocasia gigantea is close to Alocasia macrorrhizos and is thought to be produced from natural crossing between A. macrorrhizos and C. esculenta.

Characteristics

Plant Type

Herb

Life Cycle

Perennial

Genus

Colocasia

Family

Araceae

Hardiness Zone

7-10

Mature Height

1.52 m to 3.05 m

Mature Spread

1.52 m to 3.66 m

Leaf Color

Dark Green, Forest Green

Leaf Type

Deciduous

Flower Color

White

Flower Size

1.02 cm to 2.03 cm

Bloom Time

Summer, Early fall

Planting Time

Spring, Summer, Autumn

Harvest Time

Late summer, Fall

Native Area

Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar, Japan, Laos, Thailand, China

Tags (5)

Common Names (2)