Leucocasia gigantea, also called the giant elephant ear or Indian taro, is a species of flowering plant. It is a tall aroid plant with a large, fibrous corm, producing at its apex a whorl of thick, green leaves.[1] It is the sole species in genus Leucocasia.
Leucocasia gigantea is a "sister species" to another widely-cultivated 'taro', Colocasia esculenta, as well as to the alocasias, such as the large Alocasia macrorrhizos; it is speculated that L. gigantea was created as a result of natural hybridization between A. macrorrhizos and C. esculenta.[2] It is called '
In Japanese, it is commonly called ハス芋 (hasu-imo),[6] or "lotus yam". It is known as ryukyu in Kōchi Prefecture, as it is found in the Ryukyu Kingdom.
In addition to its value as a starchy root vegetable—known by many names, such as taro, or arbi (in Hindi)—the plant’s leaf stalk (petiole) is also used as a vegetable in some areas of Southeastern Asia and Japan. It is sometimes used as an ingredient in miso soup, chanpurū and sushi.