Giant taro (Alocasia macrorrhizos) is a plant species in Araceae, a large terna that stands upright 1-3 m tall, tube stems and is green or white brown, produces large, edible tubers that are rich in carnohydrate and a plant ornamental.
A. macrorrhizos has single leaves, width 0.9-1.8 m, length 0.6-1.2 m, thick and smooth, heart-shaped, curved base and pointed tip, green or blackish green, main bone in the middle and the minor bones go left and right.
Flower cranked, cylindrical in shape, appears on the armpits of leaves, 20-30 cm long stems and yellowish white. The fruit has a diameter of 5 cm and is green. The seeds have an elongated round shape, longitudinal grooves and are green in color. Generative and vegetative breeding.
Giant taro grows well in areas with lots of sun, clay soil that is rich in organic humus, moist and has a pool of water with a pH of 6.0 to 6.5. Generally it is found wild on the banks of rivers, on the edge of rice fields, ponds and wet places.
TAXON
Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Liliopsida
Order: Alismatales
Family: Araceae
Subfamily: Aroideae
Tribe: Colocasieae
Genus: Alocasia (Schott) G.Don in R.Sweet, Sweet's Hort. Brit., ed. 3.: 631 (1839)
Species: Alocasia macrorrhizos (L.) G.Don in R.Sweet, Sweet's Hort. Brit., ed. 3.: 631 (1839)
HOMOTYPIC SYNONYMS
Arum macrorrhizon L. in Sp. Pl.: 965 (1753)
Caladium macrorrhizon (L.) R.Br. in Prodr. Fl. Nov. Holland.: 336 (1810)
Colocasia macrorrhizos (L.) Schott in H.W.Schott & S.L.Endlicher, Melet. Bot.: 18 (1832)
HETEROTYPIC SYNONYMS
Alocasia cordifolia (Bory) Cordem. in Fl. Réunion: 136 (1895)
Alocasia gigas Chantrier ex André in Rev. Hort. (Paris) 69: 402 (1897)
Alocasia grandis N.E.Br. in Gard. Chron., n.s., 26: 890 (1886)
Alocasia harrisii-pulchrum Pynaert in Nursery Cat. (Éd.Pynaert - Van Geert) 1888(Suppl.): 3 (1888)
Alocasia insignis Pynaert (1888)
Alocasia marginata N.E.Br. in Gard. Chron., ser. 3, 2: 712 (1887)
Alocasia pallida K.Koch & C.D.Bouché in Index Seminum (B, Berolinensis) 1854(App.): 5 (1855)
Alocasia plumbea Van Houtte in Fl. Serres Jard. Paris, sér. 2, 11: 93 (1875)
Alocasia rapiformis (Roxb.) Schott in Prodr. Syst. Aroid.: 157 (1860)
Alocasia uhinkii Engl. & K.Krause in H.G.A.Engler (ed.), Pflanzenr., IV, 23E: 110 (1920)
Arum cordifolium Bory in Voy. îles Afrique 1: 376 (1804)
Arum mucronatum Lam. in Encycl. 3: 12 (1789)
Arum peregrinum L. (1753)
Arum rapiforme Roxb. in Fl. Ind., ed. 1832. 3: 497 (1832)
Caladium indicum K.Koch in Berliner Allg. Gartenzeitung 1857: 136 (1857)
Caladium metallicum Engl. in A.L.P.P.de Candolle & A.C.P.de Candolle, Monogr. Phan. 2: 502 (1879)
Caladium plumbeum K.Koch (1857)
Calla badian Blanco in Fl. Filip.: 658 (1837)
Calla maxima Blanco (1837)
Colocasia boryi Kunth in Enum. Pl. 3: 41 (1841)
Colocasia mucronata (Lam.) Kunth (1841)
Colocasia peregrina (L.) Raf. in Fl. Tellur. 3: 65 (1837)
Colocasia rapiformis (Roxb.) Kunth (1841)
Philodendron peregrinum (L.) Kunth (1841)
Philodendron punctatum Kunth (1841)
PUBLICATIONS
Acevedo-Rodríguez, P. & Strong, M.T. (2005). Monocotyledons and Gymnosperms of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Contributions from the United States National Herbarium 52: 1-415.
Albano, P.-O. (2003). La Conaissance des Plantes Exotiques: 1-324. Édisud, Aix-en-Provence.
Ara, H. (2001). An Annotated Checklist of Aroids of Bangladesh. Bangladesh Journal of Plant Taxonomy 8(2): 19-34.
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. (2008). A review of Alocasia (Araceae: Colocasieae) for Thailand including a novel species and new species records from south-west Thailand. Thai Forest Bulletin (Botany) 36: 1-17.
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.
Darbyshire, I., Kordofani, M., Farag, I., Candiga, R. & Pickering, H. (eds.) (2015). The Plants of Sudan and South Sudan: 1-400. Kew publishing, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
Figueiredo, E., Paiva, J., Stévart, T., Oliveira, F. & Smith, G.F. (2011). Annotated catalogue of the flowering plants of São Tomé and Príncipe. Bothalia 41: 41-82.
Fosberg, F.R. & Sachet, M.-H. (1987). Flora of the Gilbert Island, Kiribati, Checklist. Atoll Research Bulletin 295: 1-33.
Gosline, G., Bidault, E., van der Burgt, X., Cahen, D., Challen, G., Condé, N., Couch, C., Couvreur, T.L.P., Dagallier, L.M.J., Darbyshire, I., Dawson, S., Doré, T.S., Goyder, D., Grall, A., Haba, P., Haba, P., Harris, D., Hind, D.J.N., Jongkind, & al. (2023). A Taxonomically-verified and Vouchered Checklist of the Vascular Plants of the Republic of Guinea. Nature, scientific data 10, Article number: 327: [1]-[12].
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.
Hammel, B.E. & al. (2003). Manual de Plantas de Costa Rica 2: 1-694. Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis.
Hokche, O., Berry, P.E. & Huber, O. (eds.) (2008). Nuevo Catálogo de la Flora Vascular de Venezuela: 1-859. Fundación Instituto Botánico de Venezuela.
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.
Lambdon, P. (2012). Flowering plants & ferns of St Helena: 1-624. Pisces publications for St Helena nature conservation group.
Lisowski, S. (2009). Flore (Angiospermes) de la République de Guinée. Scripta Botanica Belgica 41: 1-517.
MacKee, H.S. (1994). Catalogue des plantes introduites et cultivées en Nouvelle-Calédonie, ed. 2: 1-164. Museum national d'histoire naturelle, Paris.
Mansor, M., Boyce, P.C., Othman, A.S. & Sulaiman, B. (2012). The Araceae of peninsular Malaysia: 1-146. Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia.
Nelson Sutherland, C.H. (2008). Catálogo de las plantes vasculares de Honduras. Espermatofitas: 1-1576. SERNA/Guaymuras, Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
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.
Parham, B.E.V. (1971). The Vegetation of the Tokelau Islands with special reference to the plants of Nukunonu Atoll. New Zealand Journal of Botany 9: 576-609.
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.
Sarmah, K.K. & Borthakur, S.K. (2009). A checklist of angiospermic plants of Manas national park in Assam, India. Pleione 3: 190-200.
Sasikala, K., Vajravelu, E. & Daniel, P. (2019). Fascicles of Flora of India 29: 1-357. Botanical Survey of India, New Delhi.
Schinini, A. (2006). Adenda a las Araceae de la flora del Paraguay. Rojasiana 7(2): 51-62.
Sharief, M.U. (ed.) (2024). Flora of India 28: 1-764. Botanical Survey of India.
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.
Sykes, W.R. (1970). Contributions to the flora of Niue. Bulletin, New Zealand Department of Scientific and Industrial Research 200: 1-321.
Sykes, W.R. (2016). Flora of the Cook Islands: 1-973. National Tropical Botanical Garden, Hawaii.
Takeuchi, W. (2005). Floristic notes from a holocene successional environment in Papuasia. Harvard Papers in Botany 10: 95-116.
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.
Zizka, G. (1991). Flowering plants of Easter island. Palmarum Hortus Francofurtensis 3: 1-108.
VERNACULAR NAME
Acehnese: Birah
Asilulu: Hila
Austria: Riesenblättriges Pfeilblatt
Bantoanon: Badyang
Bima: Wia
Burmese: Pein-mohawaya
Chamorro: piga
Chinese (simplified): 热亚海芋
Chinese (traditional): 海芋 - 蘭嶼姑婆芋 - 姑婆芋 - 痕芋頭 - 熱亞海芋
Danish: Vikingeskjold
Dutch: Alocasie
English: Giant taro, Elephant Ear, Giant Alocasia, Cunjevoi
Filipino: Giga, Biga, Bira, Badiang
Finnish: Jättialokasia
French: Songe caraïbe, Alocasie à grandes racines, Grande tayove
German: Riesenblättriges Pfeilblatt
Guangdong: 海芋
Hawaiian: Ape, Ta‘amu, Pia
Hindi: मन्ना - मकांडा Manna, Makanda
Hong Kong: 海芋
Ifugao: Bila
Ilocano, Cebuano and Bikol: Biga
Indonesian: Birah besar, Bira, Sente
Japanese: インドクワズイモ
Java: Sente, Sènthé
Kannada: Marsanige, Mundi gedde, Baalaraaksha, Marasani, Mundi, Karimanasangi, Genasoo
Khmer: K'dat haôra
Kilivila and Fijian: Via
Korean: 비라
Kowiai: fira
Lao: Kaph'uk
Lithuanian: Stambiašaknė alokazija
Macao: 海芋
Malagasy: Via
Malayalam: Aanachemubu, Aasamchembu, Chembu, Eezhachembu, Marenchembu, Pazhchembu
Malaysia: Birah negeri, Keladi sebaring
Manipuri: Hong-ngoo
Marathi: Kaasaalu, madi-alum
Mizo: Sai-dawl
Mongondow: Biga
Motu and 'Are'are: Hira
Ngaju: Biha
Nusa Tenggara: Mael
Palauan: Bísə, Bisechrabelau
PNG: Abir, Pia, Via
Polish: Alokazja olbrzymia
Rote and Tetun: Fia
Rukai: Vi'a or bi'a
Russian: Алоказия крупнокорневищная
Sanskrit: Alooka, Brihachhada, Chhatrapatra
Sinhala: හබරල
Slovak: Alokázia veľkokoreňová, Alokázia indická
South East Queensland: Cunjevoi
Spanish: Hoja pintada, Pata
Taiwan: 蘭嶼姑婆芋
Tamil: மெருகன் - மெருகன் கிழங்கு Merukan, Merukan kizhangu
Tangkhul: Paankhot
Telugu: Chara-kanda
Thai: กระดาด
Tiruray: Bira
Tongan: Kape
Wuvulu and Aua: Pia
Aryo Bandoro
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