Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott

 
  • Family : ARACEAE
    (Arum Family)
  • Family (Hindi name) : OAL FAMILY
  • Family (as per The APG System III) : ARACEAE
  • Basionym : Arum esculentum L.
  • Synonym(s) : Aron colocasium (L.) St.-Lag.; Colocasia antiquorum Schott
  • Species Name (as per The Plant List) : Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott
  • Common name : Taro, Cocoyam, Wild Taro
  • Vernacular name : Kaccalu, Khuyya, Ghuyya, Arvi (Hindi); Kachi, Shamagadde (Kannada); Sapakizhangu (Tamil); Alupam. Aalukee (Sanskrit); Alu, Chamkara (Marathi); Chembu, Seppankizhangu, Madantha (Malayalam); Saru, Bansaru (Oria); Kaladi, Chamadumpa, Chamagadda (Telugu)
  • Habit : Herb
  • Comments / notes : Often cultivated for its edible tuber. Widely distributed along roadsides of ghats and plains, and wet habitats
  • Flower, Fruit : June-January
  • Distribution :
    • Andhra Pradesh : Vishakapatnam district
    • Karnataka : Udupi district, Dakshina Kannada district
    • Kerala : All districts of Kerala
    • Maharashtra : Mumbai-City district, Mumbai Suburban district, Buldhana district, Kolhapur district, Nagpur district, Osmanabad district, Pune district, Raigad district, Ratnagiri district, Satara district, Sindhudurg district, Thane district, Yavatmal district
    • Odisha : Common in damp, shaded places; also cultivated
  • Native : Indian subcontinent
  • World Distribution : Pantropical
  • Conservation Status : Least Concern (LC)
  • Literature : H.O. Saxena & M. Brahmam, 1996- Flora of Orissa Vol. 4; R. S. Rao et al., 1986 - Flora of West Godavari District; R. S. Rao and S. H. Sreeramulu, 1986 - Flora of Srikakulam District; H. O. Saxena and M. Brahmam, 1989 - The Flora of Similipahar (Similipal), Orissa; B. D. Sharma, S. Karthikeyan & N. P. Singh 1996 - Flora of Maharashtra state - Monocotyledons; Matthew, K.M., The Flora of Tamil Nadu Carnatic, Vol.3 (2). Diocesan Press, Madras. 1983; Matthew, K.M., 1983. The Flora of Tamil Nadu Carnatic, Vol.3 (2); Pullaiah, 1997. Fl. Andhra Pradesh, vol. 3; Sasidharan, N. 2011. Flowering plants of Kerala. DVD, V 2, KFRI.
  • Citation : Sankara Rao, K., Raja K Swamy, Deepak Kumar, Arun Singh R. and K. Gopalakrishna Bhat (2019). Flora of Peninsular India. http://peninsula.ces.iisc.ac.in/plants.php?name=Colocasia esculenta. Downloaded on 2 April 2025.

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