Alocasia, Upright Elephant Ear, Giant Taro, Wild Taro 'Black Stem'

The particular photos on this page are of the Colocasia antiquorum 'Black Stem' not the Alocasia macrorrhizos 'Black Stem. Petioles of th...Read Moree Colocasia curve downward just before joining the leaf axis which makes their leaves face downward. The Alocasia leaves point upward, not in very species, however, but they do with most. LeeAnn Garner of Aroidia Research can verify this. She has a nice page on her website about this species. She is also a featured writer and has many posts on Dave's Garden.

I love this plant. When I first got it, it was a sad little black stemmed bulb, with only two half burnt leaves. I put it on the porch ...Read Moreat first, half day of sun. As I realized this plant loves the sunshine, I moved it to the yard out by the Avocado and the Hibiscus and it is really thriving. During really dry times, no rain, I water this plant with filtered water or saved rain water. I have not fertilized this plant since July.