| Leucocasia gigantea, also called the giant elephant ear or Indian taro, is a species of flowering plant. It is a 1.5–3 m (4 ft 11 in – 9 ft 10 in) tall aroid plant with a large, fibrous corm, producing at its apex a whorl of thick, green leaves.[2] It is the sole species in genus Leucocasia.[1] 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.[3] It is called 'dọc mùng' in northern Vietnam and 'môn bạc hà' or 'bạc hà' in some provinces in southern Vietnam.[4][5][6] |
