AusTraits

Colocasia esculenta

Explore the data for this taxon in the portal

Family Araceae

Taxonomy: Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott

Synonyms: 6 (APC 2026-07-30)
  • Arum esculentum L. (nomenclatural synonym)
  • Caladium esculentum (L.) Vent. (nomenclatural synonym)
  • Colocasia antiquorum subsp. esculenta (L.) Haudr. (nomenclatural synonym)
  • Colocasia antiquorum var. esculenta (L.) Schott ex Seem. (nomenclatural synonym)
  • Colocasia esculenta var. typica Engl. (nomenclatural synonym)
  • Colocasia esculentum B.Hyland (orthographic variant)

Distribution (APC): WA (native and naturalised), ChI (naturalised), NT, Qld (naturalised), NSW (naturalised), LHI (naturalised), NI (naturalised)

Profiles: APC, Flora of Australia, ALA, iNaturalist, NSW Flora, NT eFlora, Florabase, ATRP

Traits

Top source datasets: ABRS_2022 (3), ABRS_2023 (11), ATRP_2020 (1), Brock_1993 (10), Cooper_2013 (8), Crowley_2007 (2), Kubiak_2009 (2), NHNSW_2014_2 (3), NHNSW_2024 (12), NTH_2022 (2), NTH_2023 (12), Nano_2011 (2), WAH_2022_1 (3), WAH_2022_2 (5), WAH_2023_1 (1), WAH_2023_2 (3), Wenk_2022 (2), Wenk_2023 (1), Yang_2023 (1), eFLOWER_Dun_2022 (9). See below for a full list of sources.
Summary: AusTraits contains 33 traits from 93 records in 20 datasets.

Traits by category (click to expand). For categorical traits, the values are listed. For numerical traits, the mean and range are shown.

fire response
  • resprouting_capacity (categorical): resprouts (5) [sources: Crowley_2007; Kubiak_2009; Nano_2011; Yang_2023]
flower morphology
  • flower_colour (categorical): green (1); white_cream (1); yellow_orange (2) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2; eFLOWER_Dun_2022]
fruit morphology
  • fruit_length (numerical): 4 mm (3-5 mm) [sources: Cooper_2013; NHNSW_2024; NTH_2023]
  • fruit_type (categorical): berry (4) [sources: ABRS_2023; Cooper_2013; NHNSW_2024; NTH_2023]
  • fruit_fleshiness (categorical): fleshy (1) [sources: Cooper_2013]
  • fruit_dehiscence (categorical): dehiscent (1); indehiscent (1) [sources: ABRS_2023; Cooper_2013]
  • fruit_colour (categorical): red (2) [sources: NHNSW_2024; NTH_2023]
leaf morphology
  • leaf_length (numerical): 378.75 mm (90-600 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023; Brock_1993; NHNSW_2024; NTH_2023]
  • leaf_width (numerical): 230 mm (60-400 mm) [sources: Brock_1993; NHNSW_2024; NTH_2023]
  • petiole_length (numerical): 100 cm (100-100 cm) [sources: ABRS_2023]
  • leaf_type (categorical): broadleaf (1) [sources: NHNSW_2024]
  • leaf_shape (categorical): cordate (1); elliptical (1); orbicular (1); ovate (1); peltate (2) [sources: ABRS_2023; Brock_1993; NHNSW_2024; NTH_2023]
  • leaf_base_shape (categorical): cordate (1); sagittate (1) [sources: NHNSW_2024; NTH_2023]
  • leaf_compoundness (categorical): simple (1) [sources: Brock_1993]
  • leaf_glaucousness (categorical): glaucous (2) [sources: ABRS_2023; NHNSW_2024]
  • leaf_phyllotaxis (categorical): alternate (1) [sources: ABRS_2023]
  • plant_photosynthetic_organ (categorical): leaf (3) [sources: ABRS_2023; NHNSW_2024; NTH_2023]
life history
  • plant_growth_form (categorical): geophyte (1); herb (7) [sources: ABRS_2022; ATRP_2020; Brock_1993; Cooper_2013; NTH_2022; WAH_2022_1; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022]
  • life_history (categorical): perennial (4) [sources: Brock_1993; WAH_2022_1; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2023]
  • plant_growth_substrate (categorical): aquatic (1) [sources: WAH_2022_2]
  • woodiness_detailed (categorical): herbaceous (4); woody (1) [sources: ABRS_2022; NTH_2022; WAH_2022_1; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022]
  • stem_growth_habit (categorical): creeping (1); rhizomatous (1); stoloniferous (1); submerged (1) [sources: ABRS_2022; WAH_2022_2]
  • flowering_time (categorical): yynnnnnnnnny (1); yyynnnnnnnnn (1); yyyynnnnnnnn (1) [sources: Brock_1993; Cooper_2013; NHNSW_2014_2]
  • storage_organ (categorical): corm (2); rhizome (1); stem_tuber (2) [sources: ABRS_2023; WAH_2023_1; WAH_2023_2]
  • bud_bank_location (categorical): fleshy_underground_organ (2) [sources: Crowley_2007; Nano_2011]
whole plant morphology
  • plant_height (numerical): 1.1 m (0.2-1.5 m) [sources: Brock_1993; Cooper_2013; NHNSW_2014_2; NHNSW_2024; NTH_2023; WAH_2023_2]

Sources

dataset_idn_traitsn_recordsreference
NHNSW_20241112N. H. of New South Wales. The Plant Information Network System of The Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust Version 2.0.. accessed on December, 2023.. 2024. url: https://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/.
NTH_2023912D. of Land Resource Management and N. T. of Australia. Northern Territory Flora Online. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2022. url: http://eflora.nt.gov.au/.
ABRS_20231011Australian Biological Resources Study. Flora of Australia, Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2023. url: http://www.ausflora.org.au.
Brock_1993810J. Brock and A. Dunlop. Native plants of northern Australia. Reed New Holland, 1993. ISBN: 9781877069246.
eFLOWER_Dun_202279L. Dun and H. Sauquet. “Unpublished: Floral traits for GAP taxa, University of New South Wales, Australia”. 2022.
Cooper_201378W. Cooper and W. T. Cooper. Australian rainforest fruits. CSIRO Publishing, 2013, p. 272.
WAH_2022_255Western Australian Herbarium. Florabase—the Western Australian Flora.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2022. url: https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/.
ABRS_202233Australian Biological Resources Study. Flora of Australia, Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2022. url: http://www.ausflora.org.au.
NHNSW_2014_233Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney. PLantNET: NSW flora online. 2014. url: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/.
WAH_2022_133Western Australian Herbarium. Florabase—the Western Australian Flora.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2022. url: https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/.
WAH_2023_223Western Australian Herbarium. Florabase—the Western Australian Flora.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2023. url: https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/.
Crowley_200722G. Crowley, M. Gardener, and M. Marrinan. Tropical savannas fire response database. 2007. url: [www.landmanager.org.au](www.landmanager.org.au).
Kubiak_200912P. J. Kubiak. “Fire responses of bushland plants after the January 1994 wildfires in northern Sydney”. Cunninghamia 11.1 (2009), pp. 131-165.
NTH_202222D. of Land Resource Management and N. T. of Australia. Northern Territory Flora Online. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2022. url: http://eflora.nt.gov.au/.
Nano_201122C. E. M. Nano and P. J. Clarke. “How do drought and fire influence the patterns of resprouting in Australian deserts?”. Plant Ecology 212 (2011), pp. 2095-2110. doi: 10.1007/s11258-011-9988-x.
Wenk_202222E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant growth forms dataset”. 2022.
ATRP_202011F. A. Zich, B. P. Hyland, T. Whiffin, and R. A. Kerrigan. Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants, Edition 8. 2020. url: https://apps.lucidcentral.org/rainforest/text/intro/index.html.
WAH_2023_111Western Australian Herbarium. Florabase—the Western Australian Flora.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2023. url: https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/.
Wenk_202311E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant life history dataset, University of New South Wales, Sydney”. 2023.
Yang_202311S. Yang. “Unpublished data: Fire response traits scored from national and state floras and the taxonomic literature, University of New South Wales”. 2023.