Taro Leaf and Patch

Taro Leaf and Patch
Colocasia esculenta
(a-loh-KAY-see-uh)
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From the Waipio Valley on the Big Island

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Elephant Ear

Elephant Ear
Alocasia cuprea
(a-loh-KAY-see-uh) (KUP-ray-uh)
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Pink Quill
Tillandsia cyanea
(til-LAND-see-uh) (sy-AN-ee-uh)
Synonyms: Quill-leaf, Air Plant
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Black Elephant Ear

Elephant Ear
Colocasia esculenta 'Black Magic'
(kol-oh-KAY-see-uh) (es-kew-LEN-tuh)
Synonyms: Taro, ‘Jet Black Wonder’

This is actually the underside of the leaf with the sun shining through it. I have been trying a few foliage macros and these two were the best from yesterday. That is what I wanted to do with this blog from the start, take the picture the day before and then post it. That is only practical during the season and even then it is difficult.

The Elephant Ear is a great plant to have in the garden. I used several in containers this year and it is working out nicely. They are a little smaller than if they were growing in the ground but that is okay, they still have that gorgeous black color.

Lucky the sprinklers had just gone off before I tried to take a picture of this Hosta leaf providing the water drops. I don’t remember the variety off hand but it is a beauty. Large puckered leaves and bluish green color.


I will post a flower picture here just to keep us true to the name Digital Flower Pictures. This was one of the Daylilies at the big farm. They have a fairly large collection. The garden is doing beautifully over there. I worked almost the entire day in the rose garden just stopping to prune a few Viburnums and Lilacs. A lot of the roses needed to be deadheaded and cut back. The deadheading isn’t so bad because at least that way I knew there were a lot of flowers. The three best roses right now are ‘Showbiz’, ‘Strike it Rich’ and ‘Tropicana’. They were still blooming heavily while the other varieties have started to slow down.

Super Size Elephant Ear

Flowers of the Super Sized Elephant Ear Colocasia gigantea 'Thailand Giant Strain'

Super Size Elephant Ear
Colocasia gigantea 'Thailand Giant Strain'
(kol-oh-KAY-see-uh) (jy-GAN-tee-uh)
Araceae (a-RAY-see-ay)
Synonyms: Giant Taro

On Friday I had a few minutes in between appointments in Pound Ridge, New York so I decided to zip over the Connecticut State Line into Stamford and the Bartlett Arboretum. It is a nice little garden with a good collection of things. Sometimes when I go to gardens that I have been to many times I see something that really blows my mind and this plant was one of them. Too bad I didn’t get a picture of the whole plant but I only had the 60mm lens and I really couldn’t line up a good shot. This the second picture in a couple of weeks to feature use of the flash. Two out of about 420 posts, it could be a trend. Here is a link to Plant Delights Nursery’s catalog with an amazing picture and some more information on the plant:
click here

Foliage detail of Super Size Elephant Ears showing part of the 4 to 5 foot leaves.


The leaves on the specimen I saw were not as big as the picture but still very impressive. I don’t think growing regular Elephant Ears is going to cut it anymore! At first I didn’t see the flowers (which are fragrant) underneath the huge leaves but when I moved one of them there they were and quite pretty. The flowers had a really bright white spathe with a unique geometric pattern on the spadix. Next time I will have to crawl underneath and smell them. Not enough people stop to smell the spadix :lol: All parts of the Taro or Elephant Ear are considered poisonous and need to be cooked to break down the calcium oxalate crystals in the leaves, stem and corm. I learned a new botanical term when I looked this plant up, sagittate. Which means the leaves are arrowhead-shaped.

Taro is thought to be one of the earliest cultivated plants and is still an important food source in the Pacific Rim and Hawaii. Here is a link to the Wikipedia article about Taro:

click here