General Plant Information (Edit)
Plant Habit: Herb/Forb
Life cycle: Perennial
Sun Requirements: Full Sun to Partial Shade
Partial or Dappled Shade
Minimum cold hardiness: Zone 8b -9.4 °C (15 °F) to -6.7 °C (20 °F)
Plant Height: 3 to 6 feet (.9-1.8m)
Plant Spread: 3 to 6 feet (.9-1.8m)
Leaves: Unusual foliage color
Other: To around 3' long.
Fruit: Other: Green
Flowers: Showy
Flower Color: Other: Yellow to yellow-white spathe.
Bloom Size: 6"-12"
Flower Time: Other: Seasonal
Underground structures: Tuber
Suitable Locations: Bog gardening
Uses: Water gardens
Vegetable
Will Naturalize
Eating Methods: Cooked
Resistances: Deer Resistant
Rabbit Resistant
Humidity tolerant
Toxicity: Other: All parts of plant contain calcium oxalate crystals, an irritant to the mouth and esophagus. Toxic to cats and dogs.
Propagation: Seeds: Other info: Remove seed from berry which contains chemicals that inhibit germination.
Propagation: Other methods: Division
Stolons and runners
Offsets
Containers: Suitable in 3 gallon or larger
Miscellaneous: Goes Dormant
Awards and Recognitions: RHS AGM
Conservation status: Least Concern (LC)

Conservation status:
Conservation status: Least Concern
Image
Common names
  • Elephant Ear
  • Taro
  • Kalo
  • Dasheen
  • Elephant's Ear
Botanical names
  • Accepted: Colocasia esculenta
  • Synonym: Colocasia euchlora
  • Synonym: Colocasia antiquorum
  • Synonym: Colocasia esculenta var. esculenta

Photo Gallery
Location: z6a MA, My Garden
Date: 2010-08-25
Full sun, they'll get to 6' before frost. NoID cannonball type ak
Location: West Sumatra Indonesia (my garden)
Date: 2023-05-10
Location: The Natural State (Arkansas)
Date: 2020-07-10
Rescued from the road side last summer (in 2019).
Location: indoors Toronto, Ontario
Date: 2024-03-27
Taro or Elephant Ear (Colocasia esculenta) propagated by the peel
Location: Southern Pines, NC (Boyd House garden)
Date: June 5, 2023
Elephant ears number 76 nn; LHB p. 189, 29-2-?, "Variant of Coloc
Location: Gardenfish garden 
Date: July 15 2021
New leaf backlit by the morning sun
Location: Opp, AL
Date: 2015-08-01
These bulbs were all moved here in April, 2014.
Location: My garden in North Carolina zone 7b
Date: July 28,2024
Location: My garden in North Carolina zone 7b

Date: 2020-09-13
Location: Temple, Texas
Date: 2024-05-09
Second season (survived two hard winters).
Location: Wildlands Adventure Zoo Emmen (The Netherlands)
Date: 2024-06-23
Location: In my garden, Falls Church, VA
Date: 2017-11-05
Large bulb just pulled from garden
Location: From a friend's yard in Arlington, VA
Date: 2018-05-16
Large Noid tubers
Location: Kaua'i
Date: 2014-06-24
Location: Tennessee
Date: 2012-02-10
This common taro corm is 4-5 inches in diameter
Location: National Botanical Garden, DC, Virginia :) | May, 2022
Date: 2022-05-28
Location: Cordoba, Argentina
Location: Southern Pines, NC (Boyd House garden)
Date: July 23, 2022
Elephant ears number 76NN. LHB page 189, 29-2 —?, "Variant of C
Location: Gardenfish garden
Date: November 30 2020
Pulled from pot for winter storage, three tubers grown together
Location: Temple, Texas
Date: 2024-07-31
First season's growth (about 18" this photo)
Location: Plano, TX
Date: 2012-07-01
I started this from a small corm in May. The largest leaf is 17 i
Location: z6a MA, My Garden
Date: 2011-10-22
Tuber, stolons and cormels on a typical "cannonball" C. esculenta
Uploaded by Rainbow
Location: My garden, Gent, Belgium
Date: 2015-03-15
Weighing nearly 2 pounds ((1kg) on an egg cup.
Location: indoors Toronto, Ontario
Date: 2021-03-09
Young plant is forming from the taro peel.
Location: Elkhart
Date: 2019-10-23
Decided to put a small bulb in my fishtank ....

"Colocasia esculenta in Kadavoor"; © 2009 Jeevan Jose, Kerala, I
Uploaded by Hamwild
Location: My garden in North Carolina zone 7b
Date: 2024-07-26
July 26,2024

Date: 2013-09-22

Date: 2013-09-22
Uploaded by Swayback
Location: My garden, Gent, Belgium
Date: 2015-07-06
Lit by the evening sun..
Location: Botanical Garden of Berlin
Location: by a river, rainforest Paraty, Brazil
Date: 2010-01-24
Location: by a river, rainforest Paraty, Brazil
Date: 2010-02-18
Location: Opp, AL  Z8b
Date: 2018-06-23
Location: Connecticut 
Date: July 2018
Two ears have grown since potting 3 weeks ago
Location: Tochigi, Japan
Date: 2016-12-11
A big and perfectly round tuber variety called Kashiraimo (head y
Location: Cypress Gardens, Florida

By Taro_leaf_underside,_backlit_by_sun.jpg: Avenue Derivative wor

Date: 2013-09-03
Location: Coastal San Diego County 
Date: 2018-07-07
Location: Elkhart
Date: 2019-10-23
Placed a bulb In the fishtank ...
Location: Paraty, SE Brazil
Date: 2017-01-28
Location: Dayton, TN
Date: 2013-07-17
Mammoth
Location: La Réunion
Photo courtesy of Thierry Caro, user Bouba, Wikipedia
Location: My garden, Gent, Belgium
Date: 2013-08-07
Mine gets very tall in a shady location.

Date: 2013-09-22

Date: March 29, 2009
photo by Wildfeuer
Location: Opp, AL  Z8b
Location: Opp, AL  Z8b
Date: 2017-02-19

Date: 2014-05-04
Location: Botanical Garden of Berlin
Location: Ingleside. Illinois
Date: 2021-10-01
Location: indoors Toronto, Ontario
Date: 2021-02-18
Elephant Ear (Colocasia esculenta) peel can form small plants whe

Date: 2013-10-04
Location: Opp, AL
Date: 2015-09-28
Location: Opp, AL
Date: 2015-09-28
Location: Opp, AL
Date: 2015-09-28
Spent blooms, but not necessarily seed pods.
Location: Daytona Beach, Florida
Date: 2015-04-24
Location: Opp, AL
Date: 2015-09-28
Location: Daytona Beach, Florida
Date: 2015-04-24
Location: by a river, rainforest Paraty, Brazil
Date: 2010-01-24
Uploaded by purpleinopp

Date: 2021-08-08
Location: Atlanta BG
Date: Aug 16
Location: indoors Toronto, Ontario
Date: 2021-02-22
Elephant Ear (Colocasia esculenta) small growth (a plant to be) h
Location: Plano, TX
Date: 2013-05-27
Survived the winter in zone 8a
Uploaded by pphanfx

photo by Yongxinge
Uploaded by Swayback
Uploaded by Swayback
Location: My Northeastern Indiana Gardens - Zone 5b
Date: 2010-08-12
Potted plant started indoors, then moved outside to a large sunke
Location: by the roadside, Paraty, Brazil
Date: 2010-02-22

Infestation photo by Chuck Bargeron, University of Georgia
Location: by a river, rainforest Paraty, Brazil
Date: 2010-01-24
Location: Sangamon Co. Il.
Date: 2018-05-21

Photo courtesy of Longfield Gardens
  • Uploaded by Joy
Location: Sao Vincente - Madeira
Date: 2023-04-10
Garden escape

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Comments:
  • Posted by eclayne (Pioneer Valley south, MA, USA - Zone 6a) on Dec 7, 2011 6:56 PM concerning plant:
    In the 5 month growing season here the largest tubers of the type I have produce 6'+H plants with leaves around 3'L. I plant in late May and lift after the frost has knocked them down (usually mid-October). They do fine in full sun to part shade but do best with lots of water. The newer leaves seem to have more marbling in part sun/shade. I also don't believe you can feed them too much. Easy to store dry over winter while dormant.

    As C. esculenta produce many roots from the top of the tuber a good "growing medium/compost/mulch" on top of the soil is very beneficial. I use my own compost. New tubers and stolons also produce roots (which can be much closer to the soil surface). These roots tend to spread out just below the surface. I dig a depression ~2' in diameter and 2" deep. Plant the tuber ~2" below the soil level and overfill the depression with ~3 to 4" of "growing medium/compost/mulch". This helps keep the roots cool and moist and gives them a good medium to grow in. Sometimes I'll mound more compost around the petioles later in the season. When I don't dig a depression I plant deeper and mound compost ~2-3" deep above the tuber.

    A native of SE Asia, Taro is reported to have been cultivated for thousands of years and is now cultivated worldwide as a food crop. The tubers, petioles and inflorescence are eaten as a vegetable and the tubers are used in traditional medicine. Some varieties are considered invasive in the American southeast.

    Growers in zone 8 and higher report the best results when grown in bright or dappled shade.
  • Posted by sallyg (central Maryland - Zone 7b) on Oct 16, 2018 4:59 PM concerning plant:
    I bought a grocery store edo/eddo and grew it into a potted plant. That variety seems smaller in size/stature than some. It grew to about 3 feet tall. First winter, I guess I kept it growing in the basement. Second summer, it grew well but on pulling it, I found no tuber left, only two tiny new tubers offsetting from the two stems. I potted the tiny tubers to keep growing but discarded the tops.

    This summer, I was given a bulb of "giant" elephant ear. Also potted, it grew four+ feet tall stems and larger leaves than the edo.

    It can be a challenge keeping these watered in a pot. I used large saucers underneath the pots to hold more water.
  • Posted by janelp_lee (Toronto, Ontario - Zone 6a) on Feb 26, 2021 2:52 PM concerning plant:
    To those gardeners who love to grow this plant, you can go to your local Asian supermarket to get the large taro bulb. They cost about $4-$5 dollars each. Each bulb is about 2+ to 3+ pounds in weight. You can cut the peel (keep the peel thick for propagation use) and cook the flesh in rice soup or in sweet syrup as dessert. The small bumps on the thick peel will grow into a small plant if planted in moist soil and kept in warm location. If not eating the flesh, just keep the bulb planted and it will grow several plants soon. If you purchase a bulb from garden center/nurseries, the price usually will be around $10 for a fist-sized bulb.

    This plant has many different varieties. If you are growing for possible eating, be sure you like them before you grow them since some of them can be quite large. The large ones make an amazing statement in planters.
Plant Events from our members
antsinmypants On June 30, 2023 Transplanted
Into Sun Garden Two.
Gardener2493 On September 26, 2021 Miscellaneous Event
Corms sprouted!
SuperHappyCamper On February 10, 2022 Obtained plant
Purchased from WM.
WebTucker On July 24, 2022 Obtained plant
MySecretIslandGarden On July 29, 2022 Miscellaneous Event
The native plant I acquired and potted has sent out runners from the pot and has rooted with new leaves emerging.
» Post your own event for this plant

Discussion Threads about this plant
Thread Title Last Reply Replies
That looks weird... by Swayback Sep 29, 2013 6:47 PM 0
Cupped leaves by eclayne Jul 7, 2014 6:33 AM 2
Looks like the plain (non-cultivar) C. esculenta species to me by purpleinopp Jul 27, 2022 7:12 AM 2

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