Elephant foot yam (Amorphophallus paeoniifolius)

Suweg or whitespot giant arum or 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.

The leaf blade is attached to the stalk, is green in color, a bone in the middle and slightly curved with many veins to the side forming a bumpy surface and leading to a vein running along the edge. Point pointed and face down.

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.

Flower is compounded in a cob structure that is protected by a shingle. The blossoms are imperfect, gather on the side of the cob with male flowers located distal or higher than the female flowers. The blooms will smell of carrion to attract flies and help pollinate them.

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Liliopsida
Order: Alismatales
Family: Araceae
Subfamily: Aroideae
Tribe: Thomsonieae
Genus: Amorphophallus
Species: Amorphophallus paeoniifolius
Form: Amorphophallus paeoniifolius ssp paeoniifolius, Amorphophallus paeoniifolius ssp burik

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