Skip to main content

Elephant ear (Xanthosoma robustum)

Dlium Elephant ear (Xanthosoma robustum)

Elephant ear (Xanthosoma robustum) is a species of plant in the Araceae, 0.4-1.5 m tall, stemless and not woody, has 2-5 leaves with stems of plain green or purplish stripes, flowers in the middle and grow to form a colony.

X. robustum has ovate or oblong leaves with tapered or rounded tips, green and shiny upper side, sometimes purplish around the stem, bright green or pale underside.







Flowers come in cobs in the axils of leaves and have stalks. The sheath is green or yellow or white and falls off. Leaves, stems and tubers are used as animal feed and carp. Shield-shaped and wide leaves are often used as head protection when it rains, food wrappers and live fish containers.

TAXON

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Liliopsida
Order: Alismatales
Family: Araceae
Subfamily: Aroideae
Tribe: Caladieae
Genus: Xanthosoma Schott in H.W.Schott & S.L.Endlicher, Melet. Bot.: 19 (1832)
Species: Xanthosoma robustum Schott in Oesterr. Bot. Wochenbl. 3: 370 (1853)

PUBLICATIONS

Govaerts, R. & Frodin, D.G. (2002). World Checklist and Bibliography of Araceae (and Acoraceae): 1-560. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Hammel, B.E. & al. (2003). Manual de Plantas de Costa Rica 2: 1-694. Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis.

Hernandez, J. (2007). In Hawaiian rainforests: exotic aroid ecologies. Aroideana 30: 91-97.

López Patiño, E.J., Szeszko, D.R., Rascala Pérez, J. & Beltrán Retis, A.S. (2012). The flora of the Tenacingo-Malinalco-Zumpahuacán protected natural area, state of Mexico, Mexico. Harvard Papers in Botany 17: 65-167.

Nelson Sutherland, C.H. (2008). Catálogo de las plantes vasculares de Honduras. Espermatofitas: 1-1576. SERNA/Guaymuras, Tegucigalpa, Honduras.

Stevens, W.D., Ulloa U., C., Pool, A. & Montiel, O.M. (2001). Flora de Nicaragua. Monographs in Systematic Botany from the Missouri Botanical Garden 85: i-xlii, 1-2666. Missouri Botanical Garden.

VERNACULAR NAME

English: Elephant ear
Indonesia: Kuping gajah
Java: Kuping gajah

Aryo Bandoro
Dlium TheDlium
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Dlium

Popular Posts

Lolot (Piper sarmentosum)

Lolot pepper ( Piper sarmentosum ) is a species of plant in Piperaceae, perennial herb, erect or lodging, creeping rhizome, up to 120 cm long, branched, enlarged branches, cylindrical stems, brown or green, often grooved, growing on the forest floor and shade. P. sarmentosum has leaf stalks up to 15 cm long, up to 13 cm wide, green, alternately arranged, heart-shaped, pointed tips and flat margins. The leaves have 5 main veins from the base of the blade, linear and slightly curved to the tip, glands on the upper surface and many fine pinnate veins. The upper side is shiny green, the lower side is pale green. The flowers are white. The fruit grows in the upper armpit of the leaf, is slightly oval and green. The leaves are used as a medicine for asthma, malaria, stomach ache, tinea versicolor, toothache, difficulty urinating, aches and pains, maintaining stamina, antibacterial, antimicrobial, antioxidant, and so on. TAXON Kingdom: Plantae Phylum: Tracheophyta Subphylum: Angiosperma...

Liberian coffee (Coffea liberica)

Liberian coffee ( Coffea liberica ) is a species of plant in the Rubiaceae family, a tree up to 20 meters tall, with numerous, radial and irregular branches, brown bark, and linear fissures. The leaves are oval, thick, up to 35 cm long, up to 20 cm long, shiny green, and have petioles up to 1 cm long. The fruit is round to oval, irregular, and up to 2 cm wide. TAXON Kingdom: Plantae Phylum: Tracheophyta Subphylum: Angiospermae Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Gentianales Family: Rubiaceae Subfamily: Ixoroideae Tribe: Coffeeae Genus: Coffea L. in Sp. Pl.: 172 (1753) Species: Coffea liberica W.Bull in Nursery Cat. (William Bull) 97: 4 (1874) HETEROTYPIC SYNONYMS Coffea abeokutae Cramer in Meded. Dept. Landb. Ned.-Indië 11: 286, 396 (1913) Coffea abeokutae var. camerunensis A.Chev. in Encycl. Biol. 22: t. 44 (1942) Coffea abeokutae var. indeniensis (Siebert) A.Chev. (1942) Coffea abeokutae var. longicarpa Portères in Ann. Agric. Afrique Occ. 1(2): 224 (1937) Coffea abeokutae var. macrocarpa...

Sausage tree (Kigelia africana)

Sausage Tree ( Kigelia africana ) is a species of tree in the Bignoniaceae family, growing up to 24 meters tall with low, spreading branches. The bark is dark gray to light brown, up to 6 mm thick, scaly, creamy white underside, and the branches are marked with lenticels. The wood is light brown or yellowish. This tree grows at elevations of 0-3000 meters. The leaves are arranged alternately along the stem and are divided into several pairs of minor leaflets and a single minor leaflet at the tip. Each leaflet is up to 50 cm long and has 3-6 pairs of opposite minor leaflets. The minor leaflets are oval to narrow and pointed, 7-20 cm long and 4-12 cm wide. The margins are smooth, sometimes slightly serrated. The upper side is glossy green, the underside pale green, smooth or finely hairy. The central vein is sunken on the upper side, with 7-12 pairs of prominent lateral veins visible below. The inflorescences hang from flexible branches up to 7.5 meters long. The flowers are bell-shap...