Colocasia fallax

Colocasia fallax Schott

Colocasia fallax, a member of the Araceae family, is a perennial herb native to regions including Assam, Bangladesh, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, Tibet, Vietnam, and parts of the Himalayas. It features a rhizomatous underground stem and glossy, trifoliolate leaves with elliptic-ovate leaflets. The plant produces an inflorescence with a funnel-shaped spathe and a spadix bearing staminate and pistillate flowers. It thrives in humid, shaded environments such as dense forests, stream banks, and moist rock faces at elevations between 600–1250 m. Colocasia fallax is cultivated as a houseplant and garden plant in warm climates, often in water gardens and pond edges.

Description

Colocasia fallax is an evergreen herb reaching up to 0.8 m tall, with a rhizome up to 20 × 3–6 cm in size. The leaves are trifoliolate, with elliptic-ovate leaflets up to 30 cm long, glossy green above, and glaucous green below. The inflorescence is positioned below the foliage, with a mottled green and red peduncle and a pale green spathe with a dark green limb. The spadix has a staminate or bisexual fertile zone and a sessile appendix covered in bristles. Fruits are red when ripe. It grows in lowland to lower montane forests, scrub, and moist stream margins. Cultivated for its ornamental foliage, it is suited to wet, humid environments and USDA zones 8–10.