Elephant foot yam (Amorphophallus paeoniifolius) is a plant species in the Araceae, an annual herb but is considered bi-seasonal because the vegetative and generative phases appear not simultaneously, the leaves grow to produce tubers and flowers emerge from the tubers at the beginning of the rainy season.
A. paeoniifolius has a vegetative phase visible as branched foliage which is often referred to as a false stem or petiole, single cylindrical, large and vertical. The true stem is the tuber which is always below the soil surface.
The petiole grows upright up to 1.5 meters high, soft, light green to dark green and has white patches. Smooth surface is not prickly or rough prickly depending on the form. Single stalk into three secondary branches and will branch again as well as a leaf blade.
Stem tubers form tuber shoots from the side and can give rise to leaves so that they sometimes look like clumps. The tuber contains starch which is predominantly a white mannan component, often with a pink or purple tinge.
Elephant foot yam has a generative phase characterized by the appearance of flowers and seeds on the ground, reddish brown and yellow in color. Flowers arise when the energy savings in the form of flour in the tubers are sufficient for flowering. The entire leaf withers to leave a large tuber on which a flower appears.
TAXON
Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Liliopsida
Order: Alismatales
Family: Araceae
Subfamily: Aroideae
Tribe: Thomsonieae
Genus: Amorphophallus Blume ex Decne. in Nouv. Ann. Mus. Hist. Nat. 3: 366 (1834)
Subgenus: Amorphophallus
Species: Amorphophallus paeoniifolius (Dennst.) Nicolson in Taxon 26: 337 (1977)
HOMOTYPIC SYNONYMS
Amorphophallus giganteus Blume in Rumphia 1: 144 (1837)
Arum rumphii Gaudich. in Voy. Uranie: 43 (1826)
Candarum hookeri Schott in H.W.Schott & S.L.Endlicher, Melet. Bot.: 17 (1832)
Candarum roxburghii Schott (1832)
Candarum rumphii Schott (1832)
Conophallus giganteus Schott ex Miq. in Fl. Ned. Ind. 3: 198 (1856)
Dracontium paeoniifolium Dennst. in Schlüssel Hortus Malab.: 38 (1818)
Kunda verrucosa Raf. in Fl. Tellur. 2: 82 (1837)
HETEROTYPIC SYNONYMS
Amorphophallus campanulatus Decne. in Nouv. Ann. Mus. Hist. Nat. 3: 366 (1834)
Amorphophallus campanulatus var. blumei Prain in Bengal Pl. 2: 1109 (1903)
Amorphophallus campanulatus f. darnleyensis F.M.Bailey in Queensland Agric. J., n.s., 1: 124 (1914)
Amorphophallus chatty Andrews in Ill. Hort. 19: 361 (1872)
Amorphophallus decurrens (Blanco) Kunth in Enum. Pl. 3: 581 (1841)
Amorphophallus dixenii K.Larsen & S.S.Larsen in Reinwardtia 9: 141 (1974)
Amorphophallus dubius Blume (1837)
Amorphophallus gigantiflorus Hayata in Icon. Pl. Formosan. 6: 101 (1916)
Amorphophallus malaccensis Ridl. in J. Straits Branch Roy. Asiat. Soc. 41: 46 (1904)
Amorphophallus microappendiculatus Engl. in Notizbl. Bot. Gart. Berlin-Dahlem 8: 458 (1923)
Amorphophallus paeoniifolius var. campanulatus (Roxb.) Sivad. in Taxon 32: 130 (1983)
Amorphophallus rex Prain in J. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, Pt. 2, Nat. Hist. 62: 79 (1893)
Amorphophallus sativus Blume (1837)
Amorphophallus virosus N.E.Br. in Gard. Chron., n.s., 23: 759 (1885)
Arum campanulatum Roxb. in Pl. Coromandel 3: 68 (1820)
Arum decurrens Blanco in Fl. Filip.: 656 (1837)
Arum phalliferum Oken in Allg. Naturgesch. 3(1): 595 (1841)
Arum rumphii Oken (1841)
Conophallus sativus (Blume) Schott in Prodr. Syst. Aroid.: 35 (1860)
Dracontium polyphyllum G.Forst. in Pl. Esc.: 61 (1786)
Dracontium polyphyllum Dennst. (1818)
Dunalia artensis Montrouz. in Actes Soc. Linn. Bordeaux 26: 576 (1866)
Hydrosme gigantiflora (Hayata) S.S.Ying in Mem. Coll. Agric. Natl. Taiwan Univ. 31(1): 31 (1991)
Plesmonium nobile Schott in Ann. Mus. Bot. Lugduno-Batavi 1: 279 (1864)
Pythion campanulatum (Roxb.) Mart. in Flora 14: 459 (1831)
PUBLICATIONS
Baksh-Comeau, Y., Maharaj, S.S., Adams, C.D., Harris, S.A., Filer, D.L. & Hawthorne, W.D. (2016). An annotated checklist of the vascular plants of Trinidad and Tobago with analysis of vegetation types and botanical 'hotspots'. Phytotaxa 250: 1-431.
Boyce, P.C., Sookchaloem, D., Hetterscheid, W.L.A., Gusman, G., Jacobsen, N., Idei, T. & Nguyen, V.D. (2012). Flora of Thailand 11(2): 101-325. The Forest Herbarium, National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department, Bangkok.
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.
Govaerts, R. (1995). World Checklist of Seed Plants 1(1, 2): 1-483, 1-529. MIM, Deurne.
Kurniawan, A., Adjie, B. & Boyce, P.C. (2011). Studies on the Araceae of Sulawesi I: New taxa of Schismatoglottis and Homalomena, and a preliminary checklist and keys for Sulawesi. Acta Phytotaxonomica et Geobotanica 61: 40-50.
Mansor, M., Boyce, P.C., Othman, A.S. & Sulaiman, B. (2012). The Araceae of peninsular Malaysia: 1-146. Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia.
Nguyễn Văn Du (2017). Thực Vật Chí Việt Nam. Flora of Vietnam 16: 1-458. Nhà xuất bản khoa học và kỹ thuật, Hà Nội.
Nurtjahya, E. & al. (2026). Flowering Plants of Bangka Island: Native and Introduced. Acta Botanica Hungarica 68: 127-156.
Plunkett, G.M., Ranker, T.A., Sam, C. & Balick, M.J. (2022). Towards a checklist of the vascular flora of Vanuatu. Candollea 77: 105-118.
Sasikala, K., Vajravelu, E. & Daniel, P. (2019). Fascicles of Flora of India 29: 1-357. Botanical Survey of India, New Delhi.
Sharief, M.U. (ed.) (2024). Flora of India 28: 1-764. Botanical Survey of India.
Sykes, W.R. (2016). Flora of the Cook Islands: 1-973. National Tropical Botanical Garden, Hawaii.
Welsh, S.L. (1998). Flora Societensis: 1-420. E.P.S. Inc. Utah.
Whistler, W.A. (2022). Flora of Samoa Flowering Plants: 1-930. National Tropical Botanicl Garden. Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.
Wu, Z. & Raven, P.H. (eds.) (2010). Flora of China 23: 1-515. Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis.
Yuzammi (2009). The genus Amorphophallus Blume ex Decaisne (Araceae - Thomsonieae) in Java. Reinwardtia 13: 1-12.
VERNACULAR NAME
Chinese (simplified): 疣柄魔芋
Chinese (traditional): 疣柄魔芋
Czech: Zmijovec pivoňkolistý
Danish: Elefantyams
English: Elephant-foot yam, Elephant foot yam, Whitespot giant arum, Elephant yam
Filipino: Pungapung
Hindi: सुवरन - ओल - गांडीरा - जंगली सूरन - कांड - मदन मस्त - ज़मीनकांड Suvaran, Oal, Gandira, Jangli suran, Kanda, Madana masta, Jameenkand
Indonesian: Suweg
Java: Suweg
Kannada: Gandira, Suvarna gadde, Soorana, Kandagaḍḍe, Choornagadde, Kadu suvarna gedde
Malayalam: Cinapavu, Karunakarang, Kizhanna, Kattuchena, Chena
Manipuri: Haopan
Marathi: Suran
Oria: Oal, Olna, Oal kinda, Olakunda, Olua
Polish: Dziwidło dzwonkowate
Russian: Аморфофаллус пионолистный
Sanskrit: Arsaghna, Arshoghna, Arsoghna, Bahukanda, Soorana
Slovak: Zmijovec zvončekovitý
Spanish: Telinga
Tamil: ஆனைத்தாண்டு - பூமி சல்லாறைகிழங்கு - காமத்திலை Anaittantu, Boomi sallaraikilangu, Camattilai
Telugu: Daradakandagadda, Ghemikanda, Kanda, Manshi kanda
Thai: บุกคางคก
Urdu: زامن قند Zamin-kand
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