• Family : ARACEAE
  (Arum Family)
• Family (Hindi name) : OAL FAMILY
• Family (as per The APG System III) : ARACEAE
• Basionym : Xanthosoma violaceum Schott
• Species Name (as per The Plant List) : Xanthosoma sagittifolium (L.) Schott
• Common name : Arrowleaf Elephant's Ear
• Vernacular name : Palchembu, Seemachembu (Malayalam); Govekesu (Kannada)
• Habit : Herb
• Comments / notes : Cultivated for edible tubers. Introduced (Shevroy hills); above 1400m, in perennially moist places, by wastelands and by habitations
• Flower, Fruit : October-January
• Distribution :
  • Karnataka : Udupi district, Dakshina Kannada district, Bengaluru district
  • Kerala : Kozhikode district, Palakkad district, Thrissur district, Kollam district
  • Tamil Nadu : Shevaroy Hills (Salem district)
• Native : Tropical America
• World Distribution : Introduced old World
• Conservation Status : Not Evaluated (NE)
• Literature : Matthew, K.M., The Flora of Tamil Nadu Carnatic, Vol.3 (2). Diocesan Press, Madras. 1983; Sasidharan, N. 2011. Flowering plants of Kerala. DVD, V 2, KFRI; Gopalakrishna Bhat, 2003 – Flora of Udupi District; Gopalakrishna Bhat, 2014- Flora of South Kanara.; Nayar, T. S., et al, 2006. Flowering plants of Kerala, A hand book
• 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=Xanthosoma sagittifolium. Downloaded on 20 May 2024.

Botanical Description

Herbarium Specimen(s)

Field Image(s)