Elephant ear

**B* W* <p*@alltel.net>**

 Steve I find that just about all plants labeled commercially as 
Elephant ear are Colocasias esculenta. The Xanthosomas are a bit harder 
to find and I have rarely seen them commercially available. Yet many 
times I have seen photos of Xanthosomas being used to sell Colocasias as 
well as Alocasias.  Caladiums are usually marked a bit better.  The 
colocasia in question though is very interesting. It maybe a tetraploid 
possibly a triploid as it grows much larger and very rarely produces 
flowers. I have only seen flowers one time. The tubers can get extremely 
large 1 foot long or more and 6 to 8 inches across. I have seen a few 
photos of the plant grown to 10 feet tall or more. I am not sure if this 
form is used in any taro production, it would be interesting to find 
more on it's origins.  I have some good photos of on around 8 feet tall 
or so.
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