Galapagos Species Database
The Galapagos Species Database shares the information about the species from our Natural History Collections.
Alocasia cucullata
alocasia, chinese taro
Herbs, clumping, small to medium sized, somewhat robust, to 1 m, evergreen. Stems erect, hypogeal, basally much branched. Leaves many together; petiole weakly D-shaped in cross section. Inflorescences rarely produced, usually solitary, sometimes paired, among leaf bases, subtended by membranous cataphylls (WFO, 2022).
It is used as a medicine, has environmental uses and for food _(POWO, 2022).
Domain
Eukaryota
Kingdom
Plantae
Phylum
Magnoliophyta
Class
Liliopsida (= Monocotyledoneae)
Order
Arales
Family
Araceae
Genus
Alocasia
Species
cucullata
Taxon category: Accepted
Syn.: Arum cucullatum Lour.
Origin: Introduced - established
Year of first record: 2007
Mode of introduction: Intentional
Introduction Pathway: Intentional
Subpathway: Agriculture/Horticulture
Introduced status: Naturalized
Invasive status: Potentially Invasive
Map of specimen collection localities or observation records for this species in our collections database.
Distribution: Its native range is Sri Lanka, Himalaya to S. China and Indo-China (POWO, 2022).
- Guézou, A. Trueman, M., Buddenhagen, E., Chamorro, S., Guerrero, A.M., Pozo, P., Atkinson, R. (2010) An extensive Alien Plan Inventory from the Inhabited Areas of Galapagos Plos One/ www.plosone.org. Volume 5/ Issue 4/e10276
- Jørgensen, P.M. León-Yánez, S. (eds.) (1999) Catalogue of the Vascular Plants of Ecuador. Monographs in Systematic Botany from the Missouri Botanical Garden 75. Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis, 1181 pp.
- Tropicos.org. (2017) Database of Missouri Botanical Garden. Tropicos.org. Missouri Botanical Garden. 06 Oct 2017 <http://www.tropicos.org
You are welcome to download and use the information found in this page, acknowledging its source.
This page should be cited as follows:
"Galapagos Species Database, Alocasia cucullata", dataZone. Charles Darwin Foundation, https://datazone.darwinfoundation.org/en/checklist/?species=2127. Accessed 4 November 2026.