›

Giant taro

David J. Stang / Wikimedia Commons - CC BY-SA 4.0

Giant taro

Alocasia macrorrhizos

A massive evergreen aroid grown for leaves that the RHS says reach 3.9 feet long, carried more or less upright on stalks up to 3.9 feet tall. Outside frost-free climates it is a big houseplant or conservatory plant, which the RHS sizes at 4.9 to 8.2 feet tall and wide; planted out in USDA zones 10 and warmer it grows much larger, and UF/IFAS gives it 12 to 15 feet. It has been grown as a starchy food crop across tropical Asia and the Pacific for so long that the Flora of China says it is not clear where, if anywhere, it still grows wild. Every part is toxic raw: the ASPCA lists alocasias as toxic to dogs, cats and horses, and the RHS warns that it is toxic if eaten and irritates skin and eyes, so where it is a food the corm and stem are eaten only after long cooking. It has naturalised along streams in Hawaii and rivers in Fiji and is cited as invasive on many Pacific islands; UF/IFAS does not consider it invasive in Florida and recommends it in place of invasive wild taro, but no elephant ear should be planted beside a natural waterway.

Climate fit: narrow (21/100)

Focal point

Container

Light

Part shade

Water

Consistent moisture

Mature size

4.9-15 ft tall · 5 ft apart

Hardy in zones

10a-12b

mild to frost-free winters

Native in Illinois

No

Toxic raw, and a food crop only after long cooking.

°C

°F

Cold hardiness

These values are location-based: this location's current hardiness is the baseline, and the 2050 value is a projected future climate for this same location.

Now

Zone 6b

Plotwright

USDA Zone 6b

-5°F to 0°F

Won't grow here

2050

2100

Zone 7a

Plotwright

0°F to 5°F

Won't grow here

In plain terms: This location has cold winters. Its winters are projected to keep warming through 2050.

✕

Out of range today and still out of range in 2050.

Heat tolerance

Heat tolerance values are location-based too: heat days today are observed at this site, and the 2050 value projects this same location under a future climate.

Loading AHS heat-zone data for this location...

What it needs

Conditions

Light

Part shade

Water

Consistent moisture

Spacing

5 ft

Habit

Massive evergreen herb with a thick stem, erect or leaning, that carries a cluster of huge, more or less upright, arrow-shaped leaves on long stalks; offsets at the base build it into a clump

Care tips

•

Give it bright, indirect light, warmth above 61°F while it grows and humidity from a tray of damp gravel, as the RHS advises; strong sun scorches the leaves.

•

Use a heavy pot that will not tip: the RHS says it reaches 4.9 to 8.2 feet in cultivation and recommends terracotta for large alocasias, and NC State and UF/IFAS warn that wind damages the leaves outdoors.

•

Keep it above 59°F in winter, as the RHS's page for this species advises, and cut watering to a minimum while it rests; overwatering rots the roots.

Lifecycle

Planting

Grow it indoors in a large, heavy pot of peat-free houseplant compost with added grit, in bright, indirect light, as the RHS advises; strong sun scorches the leaves. Keep it above 61°F while it is growing, the RHS says, and NC State Extension says alocasias grow best where daytime temperatures run 68 to 77°F. In USDA zones 10 and warmer it can be planted out in partial shade in rich, moist, humus-rich soil. The sources differ on wet ground: UF/IFAS says alocasias tolerate extended flooding and that many grow well in soggy soil, while Plants For A Future says this species dislikes waterlogged soil and the RHS asks for moist but well-drained soil, so this record keeps it moist but not standing in water. Choose a spot sheltered from wind, which NC State and UF/IFAS say damages the leaves, and well away from any natural waterway, as UF/IFAS Gardening Solutions asks of every elephant ear.

Transplanting

The RHS says alocasias can stay in their first pot for a year or so and should then be repotted every couple of years in spring, and that larger ones are best in a heavy terracotta pot for stability. In cooler zones the pot can spend summer outdoors after the last frost: NC State says to bring it back inside before the first autumn frost and reduce watering in winter, or to lift the tubers and store them somewhere cool and dry.

Early growth

Water from April to October whenever the top 2 inches of compost is dry, feed every two to three weeks from spring to autumn and stand the pot on a tray of damp gravel for humidity, the RHS advises. In winter give it a drier rest. The RHS's page for this species says to keep it above 59°F in winter, while its general alocasia guide allows 50°F; this record follows the warmer figure. Some leaves may fade while it rests. Watch for spider mites and mealybugs, which the RHS, NC State and UF/IFAS all name, and for root rot from overwatering.

Maturity

The Flora of China describes a massive herb up to 13 feet tall with an erect or leaning stem up to about 4.9 feet, and light green leaf blades up to 3.9 feet long and 20 inches wide on stalks up to 4.3 feet; PIER and the Florida Natural Areas Inventory give up to 16 feet. In a pot it stays far smaller: the RHS gives 4.9 to 8.2 feet after two to five years. Plants For A Future and NC State say plants take up to 600 days to mature.

Propagation

Separate and pot up the offsets that form around the base in spring, or divide the fleshy rhizome in late spring or early summer, the RHS says; NC State recommends division of offsets. Seed can be sown as soon as it is ripe, at 73°F according to the RHS or about 75°F according to Plants For A Future. Wear gloves: the RHS says the sap irritates skin and eyes.

Native range

Worldwide native range.

Climate notes

•

Indoors except in USDA zones 10 and warmer. Plants For A Future rates giant taro hardy in USDA zones 10 to 12, and NC State Extension's page on the genus Alocasia, which names giant taro among its species, gives zones 10a to 12b. UF/IFAS gives the whole genus zones 8a to 11 and says freezing kills the leaves but the plants regrow from the base in zone 8a and south, and the Florida Natural Areas Inventory gives this species zones 8b to 11. This record follows the two sources that rate it from zone 10; in zones 8 and 9 it may die to the ground in a freeze and regrow, but neither organisation that rates the species itself extends it that far. The RHS rates it H1A, a plant for growing under glass all year above 59°F, and Plants For A Future says it grows best where daytime temperatures run 68 to 77°F and tolerates 50 to 90°F.

•

The native range here is taken from Kew's World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP), the dataset POWO publishes: Borneo, Sulawesi, the Philippines, the Maluku Islands, New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago, the Solomon Islands and Queensland. The Flora of China says it is not clear where, if anywhere, it grows wild: it was carried through tropical Asia in prehistory as a subsistence crop and is now pantropical as an ornamental. PROSEA suggests it should perhaps be treated as a cultigen, and Wikipedia calls it one of the four main taro crops of the Austronesian peoples, alongside taro (Colocasia esculenta).

•

WCVP records it as introduced in 62 areas: much of tropical Asia beyond its native range, from India, Sri Lanka and the Himalaya to southern China, Taiwan, Indochina, Malaya, Sumatra and Java; the Pacific from the Marianas, the Caroline and Marshall Islands and Hawaii to Fiji, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Samoa, Tonga and French Polynesia; the Caribbean and Central and South America, from Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica and Puerto Rico to Honduras, Costa Rica, Venezuela, north-eastern Brazil and Paraguay; and Africa and the islands of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, from Guinea and South Sudan to St Helena, the Seychelles, the Comoros and the Maldives. It also lists Portugal and Arkansas. PIER quotes the Manual of the Flowering Plants of Hawaii: cultivated and now naturalised in low-elevation valleys, mainly along streams; in Fiji it is abundantly naturalised along river banks up to 1,969 feet. PIER cites it as invasive on islands across Micronesia, Fiji, French Polynesia, Hawaii, the Marshall Islands, New Caledonia and Palau, and the Florida Natural Areas Inventory says it is considered invasive in Cuba, Hawaii, Fiji and other Pacific islands.

•

In Florida, where the first specimen was vouchered in 2000, the Florida Natural Areas Inventory records that it is not on the Florida Invasive Species Council list or the state noxious weed list, and that the UF/IFAS assessment of non-native plants rates it acceptable in the north, centre and south of the state. UF/IFAS EDIS FP033 says alocasias are not known to be invasive in Florida, and EP467 lists giant taro as a non-invasive substitute for invasive wild taro (Colocasia esculenta). PIER, citing a 2013 USDA Agricultural Research Service record, marks it as invasive and naturalised in Florida; this record follows the Florida authorities. The Inventory finds it in wet, disturbed thickets and notes that removing it means digging out every corm and tuber.

•

Size: the RHS gives 4.9 to 8.2 feet tall and wide in cultivation, the minimum used here, and UF/IFAS gives giant taro 12 to 15 feet tall and 6 to 10 feet wide outdoors, the maximum used here. Plants For A Future gives 9.8 feet by 9.8 feet at a fast rate, the Flora of China and PROSEA up to 13 feet, and PIER and the Florida Natural Areas Inventory up to 16 feet. UF/IFAS gives a spacing of 3 to 5 feet for the genus; this record uses the top of that range, since giant taro is the largest alocasia in its table.

Plant this, not that

Better fit for this place

For Chicago, IL, these are replacement suggestions: similar plants with a stronger hardiness fit now and/or in 2050.

Ligularia dentata

Leopard Plant

Ligularia dentata (leopard plant, summer ragwort) is a bold, moisture-loving herbaceous perennial native to China and Japan, grown for its enormous, glossy, heart-shaped toothed leaves and bright orange-yellow daisy flowers on dark red, near-leafless stalks in mid- to late summer. It makes an outstanding focal point beside water or in a shaded border, where its tropical-scale foliage dominates from spring through autumn. There are two honest catches: water - in full sun or any drying wind the giant leaves wilt dramatically by midday (they recover overnight, but the spectacle is ruined), so consistent moisture and afternoon shade are non-negotiable; and toxicity - like its Senecio relatives it contains hepatotoxic pyrrolizidine alkaloids and is not edible.

Perennial

Part sun / Part shade

Better fit now and in 2050

Now: well-suited

2050: well-suited

Hylotelephium 'Herbstfreude'

Autumn-joy stonecrop

A clump-forming herbaceous perennial grown for its showy late-season flower heads: masses of tiny star-like flowers borne in flattened cymes 3 to 6 inches across that emerge rosy pink, deepen to rose-red, and fade to coppery-rust as they die. Gray-green, fleshy, succulent-like leaves form upright clumps to about 24 inches. Easily grown in dry-to-medium, well-drained soil in full sun, it is drought tolerant and attracts butterflies, and its foliage and dead inflorescences persist into winter for added interest.

Perennial

Full sun / Part shade

Better fit now and in 2050

Now: well-suited

2050: well-suited

Lilium longiflorum

Easter lily

Easter lily reaches most people the way almost nothing else in this catalog does: as a forced gift plant in a foil-wrapped pot, in full white trumpet in March or April, months before its real season. Left to itself in a garden Lilium longiflorum flowers in July and August, and Missouri Botanical Garden files it under the plainer name trumpet lily. Everything about the pot version is engineered - bulbs lifted in autumn from a narrow strip of the California and Oregon coast, cooled, potted, held under a temperature schedule that lands the buds on a date that moves by up to five weeks a year, and kept short with growth retardants. That is why the plant you were given is 16 to 20 inches tall and the same plant in the ground is 2 to 3 feet. The single most important sentence in this record is not horticultural. This is the species behind the veterinary literature on feline lily poisoning: every part of it, including the pollen and the water in the vase, causes acute kidney injury in cats, less than one leaf can be enough, and untreated cases die in 36 to 72 hours. It is also the lily that enters houses in quantity, which is the whole problem. If there is a cat in the house, this plant does not come in the door. Beyond that, be clear about what it is not. It is not a hardy garden bulb in the way the regal lily in this wave is - Missouri Botanical Garden rates it zone 4 to 8, which is the most generous number in circulation for a subtropical island endemic, and much US extension guidance says 5 to 8. It is not a widespread wild species either: Kew's native range is the Ryukyu Islands, Taiwan, southern Japan and the Philippines, and nothing else. A globally traded flower with a natural range you could drive across in a day.

Perennial

Full sun / Part shade

Better fit now and in 2050

Now: well-suited

2050: well-suited

Similar plants

Browse lateral options with similar roles, light needs, size, or native-range overlap; these are not filtered for a better climate fit.

Alocasia odora

Asian taro

A massive evergreen aroid from southern and eastern Asia, native from India and the eastern Himalaya through Indochina to southern China, Taiwan and southern Japan, grown for its huge, glossy, upright, arrow-shaped leaves. UF/IFAS Extension gives it 4 to 8 feet tall and 4 to 6 feet wide in the garden, and the RHS says it can reach 4.9 feet as a houseplant. Its flowers are scented, most strongly at night, and Wikipedia gives night-scented lily as another of its names. Outside USDA zones 10 and warmer it lives indoors. Every part is poisonous: it is full of needle-like calcium oxalate crystals, Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare records food poisoning when its stems were mistaken for taro, and the ASPCA lists Alocasia as toxic to dogs, cats and horses.

A large aroid of India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Vietnam and Java whose standing as a species is disputed. Kew's World Checklist and GBIF accept Alocasia indica, but the Flora of China, PROSEA and Plants For A Future treat it as a synonym of giant taro (Alocasia macrorrhizos), and the RHS lists the name as misapplied to giant taro; Aroidpedia reports that the 2019 Fascicles of Flora of India keep it as a separate species. Flowers of India, which calls it Indian taro, tells it from giant taro by its light green, slightly heart-shaped leaves with rounded basal lobes, against giant taro's arrow-shaped ones, and says it is widely grown in Manipur as a vegetable. No source rates its hardiness as a species, so this record keeps it indoors except in USDA zones 10 and warmer, the range NC State Extension gives the genus. It is toxic raw: the ASPCA lists alocasias as toxic to dogs, cats and horses, and NC State and UF/IFAS describe calcium oxalate crystals that irritate the mouth, skin and eyes.

Ligularia dentata (leopard plant, summer ragwort) is a bold, moisture-loving herbaceous perennial native to China and Japan, grown for its enormous, glossy, heart-shaped toothed leaves and bright orange-yellow daisy flowers on dark red, near-leafless stalks in mid- to late summer. It makes an outstanding focal point beside water or in a shaded border, where its tropical-scale foliage dominates from spring through autumn. There are two honest catches: water - in full sun or any drying wind the giant leaves wilt dramatically by midday (they recover overnight, but the spectacle is ruined), so consistent moisture and afternoon shade are non-negotiable; and toxicity - like its Senecio relatives it contains hepatotoxic pyrrolizidine alkaloids and is not edible.

Perennial

Part sun / Part shade

Red ginger is a tall, upright, evergreen tropical perennial native to Maluku and the islands of Melanesia - New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu (the former New Hebrides) and New Caledonia - grown for its long-lasting, cone-like spikes of overlapping bright red to magenta bracts. The showy red parts are bracts (modified leaves), not petals; the true flowers are white and sit tucked between the bracts, easy to overlook against the color of the display. Clumps of leafy stems rise 3 to 10 feet from a spreading rhizome. It is frost-tender: grow it outdoors year-round only in USDA zones 10a-11b, and everywhere colder treat it as a container or indoor plant, brought under cover well before the first frost. It has also spread well beyond its native range: USDA PLANTS lists it as introduced in Hawaii and Puerto Rico, and Wikipedia records it growing across the Caribbean, in Suriname, and in Belize and Panama. It is not the culinary ginger of the spice rack - that is Zingiber officinale, a different genus - and it is grown as an ornamental and cut flower, not as food. Older references may list it under its original name, Guillainia purpurata.

Perennial

Part sun / Part shade

A bold tropical aroid from the rainforests of southern Mexico through Panama, grown almost everywhere outside the frost-free tropics as a foliage houseplant. It is a climbing epiphyte: it sends adventitious aerial roots to scramble up tree trunks, and its huge glossy heart-shaped leaves develop the deep cuts and oval holes (fenestrations) that give it both common names. Mature plants in the tropics flower with a creamy aroid spathe and produce a cone-like fruit that is edible only when fully ripe. Indoors it rarely flowers and is prized purely for its dramatic, architectural foliage.

Anigozanthos flavidus

Tall kangaroo paw

Tall kangaroo paw is an evergreen, clump-forming perennial from the southwest corner of Western Australia, grown for its upright fans of strap-like leaves and its tall, arching flower stalks topped with velvety, tubular yellow-green blooms - the unmistakable 'kangaroo paw' shape, sometimes shading to red, orange, or pink. Plants reach 3 to 6 feet tall and 2 to 4 feet wide and bloom from spring through fall in full sun to light shade. In its native range the flowers are pollinated by nectar-feeding birds, and the species has also naturalized outside that range in New South Wales. It is frost-tender and hardy as a garden perennial only in USDA zones 10a-11b. It hybridizes with other kangaroo paws and is used in breeding garden cultivars; this record covers the true species itself.

Perennial

Full sun / Part shade

Educator packet

Plant packet

Giant taro educator packet

A massive evergreen aroid grown for leaves that the RHS says reach 3.9 feet long, carried more or less upright on stalks up to 3.9 feet tall. Outside frost-free climates it is a big houseplant or conservatory plant, which the RHS sizes at 4.9 to 8.2 feet tall and wide; planted out in USDA zones 10 and warmer it grows much larger, and UF/IFAS gives it 12 to 15 feet. It has been grown as a starchy food crop across tropical Asia and the Pacific for so long that the Flora of China says it is not clear where, if anywhere, it still grows wild. Every part is toxic raw: the ASPCA lists alocasias as toxic to dogs, cats and horses, and the RHS warns that it is toxic if eaten and irritates skin and eyes, so where it is a food the corm and stem are eaten only after long cooking. It has naturalised along streams in Hawaii and rivers in Fiji and is cited as invasive on many Pacific islands; UF/IFAS does not consider it invasive in Florida and recommends it in place of invasive wild taro, but no elephant ear should be planted beside a natural waterway.

Scientific name

Alocasia macrorrhizos

Plant type

perennial

Hardiness

10a-12b

Light

part-shade

Moisture

consistent

Spacing

5 ft