Species · genus Alocasia · Araceae

Asian Taro

Alocasia odora (G.Lodd.) Spach

Also known as: Elephant-ear · Taro · Giant Elephant's Ear

Growth habit

subshrub or shrub

Native range

Assam, Bangladesh, Borneo, Cambodia, China South-Central, China Southeast, East Himalaya, Hainan, India, Japan, Laos, Myanmar, Nansei-shoto, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam

Reference · A. odora

Cultivars of A. odora

The named forms growers keep — each with its own page, each honest about how much we know.

No named cultivars catalogued under A. odora yet. When growers document a stable, named form, it earns its own page here.

Guide

The species-level account. Cultivar pages build on this and say where they differ.

Alocasia odora is a large tropical understory aroid from the warm, humid forests of South and Southeast Asia, where it grows in dappled light rather than open sun. It stores water in a thick rhizome and rots easily if kept soggy, so let the top inch or two of mix dry before watering and give it a chunky, free-draining medium. Place it in bright indirect light and keep humidity high; protect it from cold drafts.

Care recipe

The species record — the baseline every cultivar inherits unless it says otherwise.

Care notes are early — not yet verified

Light: ai:claude-opus-4-8
Water: ai:claude-opus-4-8 (range 5-10d)
Humidity: ai:claude-opus-4-8
Soil: ai:claude-fable-5
Care: ai:claude-fable-5

Light

Bright, indirect

Water

≈ every 10 days

Humidity

High

Temperature

16–30 °C

Soil mix

Rich, well-draining mix with bark and perlite

Propagation

Divide the freely produced rhizome offsets

Fertilizing

Balanced liquid feed monthly through the growing season

Growth rate

Fast

Flowering

Can produce fragrant greenish spathes; grown for foliage

ToxicityAuthoritative · species

Toxic to cats & dogs & humans

Araceae contain insoluble calcium oxalate crystals, which cause oral and digestive irritation if chewed or ingested. This is where toxicity lives: every cultivar of this species inherits it and none can override it.

Reference images

Every image credited. Licenses link to their deeds.

No reference gallery yet

A few clear photos — habit, a mature leaf, a flower if it blooms — would give this page its eyes.

Add images

Sources: ai:claude-opus-4-8 · ai:claude-opus-4-8 (range 5-10d) · ai:claude-fable-5 · ai:claude-opus-4-8 (family inference)

Kept true by its growers

Every fact here carries its source. Grow Asian Taro yourself? What you’ve observed — how it drinks, how it holds its color, a name that’s off — is exactly what keeps this page honest. Contributions are reviewed before anything changes.