Colocasia
Colocasia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Araceae, native to Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent. Some species are widely cultivated and naturalized in other tropical and subtropical regions.
The names elephant-ear and cocoyam are also used for some other large-leaved genera in the Araceae, notably Xanthosoma and Caladium. The generic name is derived from the ancient Greek word kolokasion, which in the Koine Greek of the 1st century botanist Pedanius Dioscorides may have meant the edible roots of both taro (C. esculenta) and Nelumbo nucifera.
The species Colocasia esculenta is invasive in wetlands along the Gulf Coast of the United States, where it threatens to displace native wetland plants.
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