Alocasia

A massive evergreen perennial herb in the arum family that forms a thick, erect trunk, reaching about 4 m tall in large plants. The arrow-shaped leaf blades grow up to about 1.2 m long and 50 cm wide on leaf stalks up to about 1.3 m long. It resembles Alocasia odora but grows larger. It has long been cultivated across tropical Asia and the Pacific islands as a starchy root crop, so where it occurs truly wild is unclear. It is also grown as an ornamental foliage plant, including cultivars with creamy white variegation.

Alocasia odora is a large evergreen perennial in the genus Alocasia (Araceae). It has a stout erect to decumbent stem and reaches 2.5 m tall, producing short stolons with tubercles at the base. The leaves are peltate (the petiole attaches inside the blade margin) and cordate-sagittate, up to 130 cm long and 100 cm wide, on petioles up to 1.5 m long. The inflorescence has a greenish white spathe, and the fruits ripen scarlet. It ranges from eastern India to southern China, Indochina, Borneo, Taiwan and southern Japan, where it grows in southern Shikoku, southern Kyushu and the Ryukyu Islands. All parts contain calcium oxalate, and poisoning has been reported from eating the rhizome after mistaking it for taro. Symptoms include nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea and numbness, and the sap can cause dermatitis on contact. Keep it away from pets and children.