Colocasia Red Stem

Colocasia esculante Red Stem is an elephant's ear cultivar which features unusual bright red petioles. It is a tuberous, stem-less, frost-tender perennial of the arum family (see also calla lily and jack-in-the-pulpit) which typically grows 3-6' tall and as wide. It is primarily a foliage plant with huge, heart-shaped, conspicuously-veined, downward-pointing, peltate leaves (to 2' long) on long red colored petioles. As the common name suggests, each leaf purportedly resembles an elephant's ear. Calla lily-like flowers with yellowish-white spathes and spadixes are usually hidden by the foliage, but flowers are infrequently produced. Plants in the genus Colocasia are also commonly called taro (Colocasia esculenta is commercially grown as a food crop in Hawaii. Poi is made from the plant tubers). We sell this remarkable plant in one gallon containers!