Elephant ear
Sources last read 14 September 2026.
Difficult One of the harder ones, and one of the reasons the diagnosis tool exists.
Also called aivi, Arabian cocoa root, bleeding heart, Caladium, callaloo, coco yam, cocoyam, dalo, dasheen, eddo, Egyptian cocoa root, Egyptian ginger, elephant ears, Green Taro, imo, kalo, keladi, Malanga, talas, Taro and Wild Taro.
Elephant ear is toxic
- Toxic to cats. Toxic principle: Insoluble calcium oxalates. Clinical signs: Oral irritation, pain and swelling of mouth, tongue and lips, excessive drooling, vomiting (not horses), difficulty swallowing. ASPCA
- Toxic to dogs. Toxic principle: Insoluble calcium oxalates. Clinical signs: Oral irritation, pain and swelling of mouth, tongue and lips, excessive drooling, vomiting (not horses), difficulty swallowing. ASPCA
- Toxic to people. People and pets: harmful when eaten; irritates skin and eyes. Use gloves and protective gear when handling it. RHS
What the sources say about its care
- Light
- Partial shadeRHS · read 13 September 2026
- Water
- Poorly-drainedRHS · read 13 September 2026
- Humidity
No source read publishes a humidity figure for any plant on this site. What follows is general guidance for foliage plants.
ASHRAE recommends indoor relative humidity between 30% and 60% 30–60%Penn State Extension · read 13 September 2026- Temperature
How cold this tolerates, not what it prefers. No source read for this site publishes a preferred range for a plant indoors.
H1B — 10–15°C 10–15 °CRHS · read 13 September 2026- Soil
- Loam; pH Acid or NeutralRHS · read 13 September 2026
- Toxic to cats
- ToxicASPCA · read 13 September 2026
- Toxic to dogs
- ToxicASPCA · read 13 September 2026
- Harmful to people
- People and pets: harmful when eaten; irritates skin and eyes. Use gloves and protective gear when handling it.RHS · read 13 September 2026
How it usually goes wrong
- Crisp margins that appear in winter
The elephant ear shows browning on many leaves at once, all at the margin, with no spots or soft patches anywhere.
Leaf margins are the end of the water supply, so they are the first tissue to run short when the air takes more than the roots can send. Penn State Extension cites 30% to 60% as the recommended indoor range, and a heated room in winter sits below it.
Telling it apart: Whether the damage advances. Dry air marks a leaf and stops; rot keeps going.
Penn State ExtensionElephant ear brown leaf tips and edges: causes- Long bare stretches of stem between leaves
Nothing browns and nothing drops; the elephant ear simply makes less, and what it makes is stretched and thin.
A plant stretches when the light is short of what it evolved for. Its source describes partial shade, and a room darker than that sets the crown reaching.
Telling it apart: Whether old growth is affected. Light shows in what arrives next; feeding shows in what is already there.
RHSDiagnose leggy growth on this Elephant ear- The older part of the crown yellows while the compost stays soaked
A sour smell from the compost is common on a elephant ear, and the outer leaves come away when pulled. The surface may look dry while everything beneath it is not.
Water held around the roots for days leaves them without air, and a root without air stops working within a week. Its source describes poorly-drained soil for good reason.
Telling it apart: Lift it from the pot. Firm pale roots mean the water is not the problem; brown soft ones that smell sour mean it is.
RHSElephant ear leaves turning yellow: causes
Not sure which it is? Ask the diagnosis questions for Elephant ear.
Routine care
- Watering
- During growth, water generously and feed monthly with a balanced liquid fertiliser.RHS · read 13 September 2026
- Feeding
- While growing, water generously and feed monthly with a balanced liquid fertiliser.RHS · read 13 September 2026
- Propagation
- By division.NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026Divide in winter.RHS · read 13 September 2026
- Pruning
- Pruning is not needed.RHS · read 13 September 2026
- Pests and diseases
- Can be troubled by glasshouse whitefly, aphids and glasshouse red spider mite. Diseases: usually none.RHS · read 13 September 2026
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Photographs
About the plant
Taro is a root vegetable. It is the most widely cultivated species of several plants in the family Araceae that are used as vegetables for their corms, leaves, stems and petioles. Taro corms are a food staple in African, Caribbean, Oceanian, East Asian, Southeast Asian and South Asian cultures.
From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · read 13 September 2026
- Native range
- India to S. China and SumateraWorld Checklist of Vascular Plants, June 2026 release, CC BY.Kew WCVP · read 13 September 2026India to Southern China and SumateraNC State Extension · read 13 September 2026Trop. E AsiaRHS · read 13 September 2026
- Climate
- wet tropicalWorld Checklist of Vascular Plants, June 2026 release, CC BY.Kew WCVP · read 13 September 2026
- Growth form
- tuberous geophyteWorld Checklist of Vascular Plants, June 2026 release, CC BY.Kew WCVP · read 13 September 2026Perennial, Water Plant; habit clumping, horizontal, spreadingNC State Extension · read 13 September 2026Clump forming (evergreen)RHS · read 13 September 2026
- Size
- Height 36–72 in; width 36–72 inNC State Extension · read 13 September 2026Height 1-1.5 metres; spread 1-1.5 metres after 5–10 yearsRHS · read 13 September 2026
- Flowering
- Flowers gold/yellow, green, whiteNC State Extension · read 13 September 2026Flowers white in summerRHS · read 13 September 2026
- Uses
What sources record people using this plant for. A traditional or medicinal use listed here is a record of use, not advice to eat it or treat anything with it.
Used in traditional medicine for digestive disorders. Poisonous before cooking; the poisons are neutralized by drying or cooking the plant thoroughly or by soaking it in water. Taro root appears in Southeast Asian cooking; boil it in salted water for at least one hour. It is high in vitamin A and vitamin C and contains more calcium, phosphorus and protein than an ordinary potato. The starch digests easily, so it often goes into infant formula as an early baby food.NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026
Common problems with Elephant ear
More of the Araceae family
Arrowhead plantEdges of the leaf blades brown while the middle stays sound
Calla lilyEdges of the leaves brown while the middle stays sound
Dumb caneLeaf tips go crisp and brown
Flamingo flowerBrown brittle margins with a green centre
Heartleaf philodendronA thin dry rim that crumbles between the fingers
MonsteraBrown brittle margins with a green centre
Plants with similar care
Sources
- ASPCA · read 13 September 2026
- Kew WCVP · read 13 September 2026
- NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026
- Penn State Extension · read 13 September 2026
- RHS · read 13 September 2026
- Wikipedia · read 13 September 2026
What this does not cover
The figures above are what published sources say, not measurements of the plant in your room. They say nothing about your pot size, your water, the season, or how far from the glass the plant stands, and those decide more than any figure here does.
Humidity has no species figure because no source read for this site publishes one, and the only temperature published for this plant is a cold floor. The simulator fills those gaps with general figures for its kind of plant, marked as general and listed on how we read sources. Where a toxicity row says the plant was not assessed, that is the absence of a finding and not a finding of safety.
If something is already wrong, the diagnosis tool asks about the soil, the window and the watering, which is where the answer usually is.