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Arrowleaf Elephant's Ear
Jeevan Jose, CC BY-SA 4.0, via iNaturalist

Aroids: philodendrons & tayer

Arrowleaf Elephant's Ear

Xanthosoma sagittifolium (L.) Schott

Names

EnglishArrowleaf Elephant's Ear
DutchTayer
SpanishOreja de elefante
Chinese千年芋
Scientific nameXanthosoma sagittifolium (L.) Schott

About this species

Xanthosoma sagittifolium, or tannia, is a tropical flowering plant from the family Araceae. It produces an edible, starchy corm. X. sagittifolium is native to tropical America where it has been first cultivated. Around the 19th century, the plant spread to Southeast Asia and Africa and has been cultivated there ever since. X. sagittifolium is often confused with the related plant Colocasia esculenta (taro), which is similar both in appearance and its uses. Both plants are often collectively named 'cocoyam'.

Tannia is among the world’s most important tuber crops and feeds 400 million people worldwide. There are multiple varieties, the two most common being the red flesh and the white flesh variety. They were selectively bred to improve pest and disease resistance, to shorten the time it takes to reach maturity and to improve the cooking quality.

Read more on Wikipedia · Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Classification

KingdomPlantae
PhylumTracheophyta
ClassLiliopsida
OrderAlismatales
FamilyAraceae
GenusXanthosoma

In Suriname

35Records in Suriname
5iNaturalist observations
1687First record
2025Latest record

Where it has been recorded

  • Sipaliwini4
  • Paramaribo1

Districts with at least one record that has coordinates. Shaded districts have records.

Records by month

All years combined.

Sources & credits

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