Taro
ಕೆಸುअरबी सब्जीசேம்பு
Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott
- light
- Part sun
- water
- Plenty
- tall
- 1.2 m
- wide
- 1.2 m
Araceae
Also called Elephant-ear, Wild taro, Arum-Lily Potatoes, Cocoyam, Donkey's Ear
Formerly Alocasia dussii, Alocasia illustris, Aron colocasium, Arum chinense, and 34 more
When it flowers
Not known yet in the tropics: too few flowering observations to read a season from.
Read from iNaturalist photographs of it in flower. A month counts at 50% of the best month's flowering share (smoothed over three months) and 10% of its flowering count, from at least 100 flowering observations in the band.
If a child, a pet or anyone may have eaten a plant, contact a doctor or vet straight away, or call the National Poisons Information Centre (AIIMS, New Delhi) on 1800 116 117, free and open 24 hours.
Something wrong with it?About it
- Grows as
- Tuberous geophyteKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Climate
- Wet tropicalKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Wild in
- India to S. China and SumateraKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Light
- Part shade (3 to 6 h)Read from NC State Extension and RHS, checked by a majority of its sourcesBacked by both sources. Sources differ: NC State Extension full, part; RHS part
- Height
- 99 cm to 1.5 mRead from NC State Extension and RHS, checked by a majority of its sourcesBacked by both sources. Sources differ: NC State Extension 3–6 ft; RHS 1–1.5 m
- Spread
- 99 cm to 1.5 mRead from NC State Extension and RHS, checked by a majority of its sourcesBacked by both sources. Sources differ: NC State Extension 3–6 ft; RHS 1–1.5 m
- Water
- Plenty: wet or constantly moistRead from NC State Extension and RHS, checked by a majority of its sourcesBacked by both sources
- Flowers
- White, yellow, greenRead from NC State Extension, one source
- Coldest it survives
- -1.1 °C (USDA zone 10a)Read from NC State Extension and RHS, checked: the middle of what its sources sayHalfway between its 2 sources, which differ. Sources differ: NC State Extension -12.2 °C; RHS 10 °C
Not known yet: heat, hottest it survives.
In other languages (12)
- Hawaiian
- kalo
- French
- Dachine, taro, Songe blanc
- root
- Ku-kut-ma-kal, makal, shashaca-titlaque, ತೇವು
- Spanish
- Malanga, Mafafa, Mafafa morada
- Chinese
- 芋, 紫芋, 檳榔芋
- Portuguese
- Inhame, Inhame-Roxo, Cará-de-Lama
- Chinese (China)
- 野芋, 紫芋, 芋头
- Marathi
- अळू, चेम्पू, रान आलू
- Kannada
- ಕೆಸು, ಕೆಸವೆದಂತು, ಕೇಶವನಗದ್ದೆ
- Japanese
- サトイモ, sato-imo, アカメイモ
- Finnish
- vihannestaaro
- German
- Taro
Where this comes from
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-24, CC0-1.0 (observation counts)
- Wikidata, read 2026-10-26, CC0-1.0
- Kew's checklist, read 2026-10-24, CC-BY-4.0
- NC State Extension, read 2026-10-25, fact, cited
- RHS, read 2026-10-25, fact, cited
- Wikimedia Commons, read 2026-10-24, CC BY-SA 4.0
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY
- 3D model: Colocasia esculenta (built for Vanagrha) by Vanagrha, own
A fact “checked by a majority of its sources” was settled by a vote of the pages it was read from, not by a person reading it; one marked “one source” rests on that page alone. Anything else not marked checked has not been checked yet. Where nothing is known, the page says so rather than guess.