Colocasia antiquorum Schott

Taro (fr)

Species

Angiosperms > Alismatales > Araceae > Colocasia

Characteristics

Herbs, perennial, terrestrial, with stolons (stoloniferous runners) and a usually erect rhizome. Rhizome 120-135 × 12-18 cm; stolons (stoloniferous runners) 6-12, trailing horizontally, pale green to pale purple, simple, thin, 70-80 × ca. 0.5 cm; internodes cylindric, 15-25 cm, without tubercles. Leaves 4-8 together; petiole light green to reddish purple, 55-140 cm, sheathing in basal 1/2; leaf blade pale green or yellow-green abaxially, sometimes with a purple margin, green or yellow-green adaxially, glossy and wettable (water forming an even coating), peltate, ovate-cordate to sagittate-cordate, 30-80 × 18-70 cm, membranous; primary lateral veins 5-9, pale green or purple, interprimary veins inconspicuous. Inflorescences 3-5(or 6); peduncle green or purple, cylindric or subtrigonous, shorter than petioles, 40-70 × 1.5-2 cm. Spathe constricted between tube and blade; tube yellowish green or purple, oblong, 4-12 × 1.4-4.5 cm, subcylindric; limb convolute at base, suberect to reflexed, golden yellow, sometimes with purple margin, oblong, oblong-lanceolate, or obovate, 7-24 × 4-14 cm, apex obtuse or acute. Spadix sessile, shorter than spathe; female zone golden yellow, cylindric, 2-3 × 0.3-0.75 cm, ca. 1/2 as long as spadix, with a few yellow interpistillar staminodes; female flowers obovoid; ovary 1-loculed; placentae 2; stigma sessile or subsessile, disciform, 6-lobed; sterile zone whitish, cylindric, 1-5 × 0.3-1.8 cm; synandrodes depressed obpyramidal; male zone yellow, cylindric, 3.5-14 × 0.4-1.5 cm; synandria 3-10-androus, yellow, 1-2 mm; appendix absent or erect, narrowly conic, ca. 5 cm. Fruit not seen. Fl. May-Sep. 2n = 28.
Life form perennial
Growth form herb
Growth support free-standing
Foliage retention evergreen
Sexuality monoecy
Pollination -
Spread -
Mature width (meter) 1.0 - 1.5
Mature height (meter) 1.0 - 1.25
Root system rhizome
Rooting depth (meter) 1.5
Root diameter (meter) -
Flower color
Blooming months
JanFebMar
AprMayJun
JulAugSep
OctNovDec
Fruit color -
Fruiting months -
Nitrogen fixer -
Photosynthetic pathway -

Environment

Light 4-6
Soil humidity -
Soil texture -
Soil acidity 2-6
Soil nutriment -
Hardiness (USDA) 9-11

Usage

Uses medicinal
Edible leaves stems
Therapeutic use Poison (unspecified)
Human toxicity -
Animal toxicity -

Cultivation

Can be grown by divisions or seedlings.
Mode divisions seedlings
Germination duration (days) -
Germination temperacture (C°) -
Germination luminosity -
Germination treatment -
Minimum temperature (C°) -
Optimum temperature (C°) 19 - 25
Size -
Vigor -
Productivity -

Images

Colocasia antiquorum unspecified picture

Distribution

Colocasia antiquorum world distribution map, present in China and United States of America

Identifiers

LSID urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:86069-3
WFO ID wfo-0000917328
COL ID X6SH
BDTFX ID 84601
INPN ID 453861
Wikipedia (EN) Link
Wikipedia (FR) Link

Synonyms

Colocasia antiquorum Colocasia antiquorum var. fontanesii Colocasia esculenta var. fontanesii Colocasia esculenta var. antiquorum