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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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