Menu list goes here

Herbal Database Search Results

Back to: Pathways Main Search Page For Metaphysical uses visit The Witchs Haven

Amorphophallus paeoniifolius

Common name:	Elephant Yam	Family:	Araceae
Author:	(Dennst.)Nicolson.	Botanical references:	200, 266
Synonyms:	Amorphophallus campanulatus (Decne.)
Known Hazards:	Although no specific mention has been seen for this species, it belongs to a family where most of the members contain calcium oxalate crystals. This substance is toxic fresh and, if eaten, makes the mouth, tongue and throat feel as if hundreds of small needles are digging in to them. However, calcium oxalate is easily broken down either by thoroughly cooking the plant or by fully drying it and, in either of these states, it is safe to eat the plant. People with a tendency to rheumatism, arthritis, gout, kidney stones and hyperacidity should take especial caution if including this plant in their diet[238].
Range:	Tropical regions from Madagascar to Asia, Polynesia and northern Australia.
Habitat:	Loose leafy detritus in moist shady habitats[200]. Tropical conditions in secondary forests, shrub forests and grasslands in arid valley areas at elevations below 750 metres[266].
Edibility Rating (1-5):	2	Medicinal Rating (1-5):	2

Other Possible Synonyms:	From various places across the web, may not be correct. See below.
	A. blumei[G] A. paeoniifolius var. campanulatus[G]
Other Common Names:	From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below.
	Dragon Arum [H], Kembang Bangah [E], Saranah [E], Soeweg [E], Whitespot Giant Arum [P],
Systematics:	From a USDA Plants Database
	Order: Arales. Arum family
Other Range Info:	From the Ethnobotany Database
	India India(Ayurvedic) India(Santal) Java Malaya

Physical Characteristics

Perennial growing to 0.75m. It is hardy to zone 10. The scented flowers are monoecious (individual flowers are either male or female, but both sexes can be found on the same plant) and are pollinated by Flies. We rate it 2/5 for edibility and 2/5 for medicinal use.

The plant prefers light (sandy) and medium (loamy) soils. The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It can grow in semi-shade (light woodland) or no shade. It requires moist soil.

Habitats and Possible Locations

Woodland, Cultivated Beds, Dappled Shade.

Edible Uses

Leaves Root.

Rhizome - cooked[2, 4, 103, 105]. Acrid raw[2], it must be thoroughly boiled or baked[46, 61]. A very large root, it can be up to 50cm in diameter[200, 243, 266]. Caution is advised, see notes above on probable toxicity.
Leaves and petioles - they must be thoroughly cooked[105, 183]. Caution is advised, see notes above on possible toxicity.

Medicinal Uses

Disclaimer

Carminative Expectorant Restorative Stomachic Tonic.

The root is carminative, restorative, stomachic and tonic[240, 243]. It is dried and used in the treatment of piles and dysentery[240, 243]. The fresh root acts as an acrid stimulant and expectorant, it is much used in India in the treatment of acute rheumatism[240, 243]. Some caution is advised, see the notes above on toxicity.

Other Uses

None known

Cultivation details

Requires shade and a rich soil in its native habitats, but it probably requires a position with at least moderate sun in Britain.
Cultivated for its edible tuber in Asia[2], plants are not winter hardy outdoors in Britain but are sometimes grown outdoors in this country as part of a sub-tropical bedding display[1].
The tuber is harvested in the autumn after top growth has been cut back by frost and it must be kept quite dry and frost-free over winter[1, 133]. It is then potted up in a warm greenhouse in spring ready to be planted out after the last expected frosts. The tubers are planted 15cm deep[1]. It is unclear from the reports that we have seen whether or not this root can be divided, it is quite possible that seed is the only means of increase[K].
The plant has one enormous leaf and one spadix annually. It requires hand pollination in Britain[1, 133]. When ripe for pollination, the flowers have a foetid smell to attract carrion flies and midges. This smell disappears once the flower has been pollinated[245].

Propagation

Seed - best sown in a pot in a warm greenhouse as soon as it is ripe and the pot sealed in a plastic bag to retain moisture. It usually germinates in 1 - 8 months at 24° c[133]. When large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and grow them on in the greenhouse for at least a couple of years. Plant them out in late spring or early summer, after the last expected frosts, and give them some protection such as a cloche until they are growing away strongly.

Scent

Flowers: Fresh: When ripe for pollination, the flowers have a foetid smell to attract carrion flies and midges. This smell disappears once the flower has been pollinated.

Suppliers

For more details of plant suppliers please see our Suppliers Page which lists many more places to look.

Web References

Details of Medicinal Uses, Habitats, etc. in M. Grieve A Modern Herbal (1931) [4]
[G] Data (Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.
[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.
[HP] Links, Photos, Suppliers from Hortiplex Plant Database

References for Amorphophallus campanulatus (a possible synonym).

[H] Details of Scandanavian and European Common names in Henriette's names database
[E] Ethnobotany Data (common names, uses, countries) from the Ethnobotany Database.
[PHARM] Phytochemical Data (common names, uses, countries) from Dr Duke's Phytochemical Database.

References for Amorphophallus paeoniifolius var. campanulatus (a possible synonym).

[G] Data (Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.

References for the family Araceae.

[CHINA] Draft Data Very detailed botanical/identification info. from the Flora of China.

See the PFAF Links Pages for other sources.

Also try Photos and info from the The Plants Database which has 14,000 images.

References

[K] Ken Fern
Notes from observations, tasting etc at Plants For A Future and on field trips.

[1] F. Chittendon. RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 Oxford University Press 1951
Comprehensive listing of species and how to grow them. Somewhat outdated, it has been replaces in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [200]).

[2] Hedrick. U. P. Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World. Dover Publications 1972 ISBN 0-486-20459-6
Lots of entries, quite a lot of information in most entries and references.

[4] Grieve. A Modern Herbal. Penguin 1984 ISBN 0-14-046-440-9
Not so modern (1930's?) but lots of information, mainly temperate plants.

[46] Uphof. J. C. Th. Dictionary of Economic Plants. Weinheim 1959
An excellent and very comprehensive guide but it only gives very short descriptions of the uses without any details of how to utilize the plants. Not for the casual reader.

[61] Usher. G. A Dictionary of Plants Used by Man. Constable 1974 ISBN 0094579202
Forget the sexist title, this is one of the best books on the subject. Lists a very extensive range of useful plants from around the world with very brief details of the uses. Not for the casual reader.

[103] Haywood. V. H. Flowering Plants of the World. Oxford University Press ISBN 0-19-217674-9
Very readable and well illustrated, it lists plants by families giving the basic diagnostic features and some details of plant uses.

[105] Tanaka. T. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World. Keigaku Publishing 1976
The most comprehensive guide to edible plants I've come across. Only the briefest entry for each species, though, and some of the entries are more than a little dubious. Not for the casual reader.

[133] Rice. G. (Editor) Growing from Seed. Volume 1. Thompson and Morgan. 1987
Very readable magazine with lots of information on propagation.

[183] Facciola. S. Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. Kampong Publications 1990 ISBN 0-9628087-0-9
Excellent. Contains a very wide range of conventional and unconventional food plants (including tropical) and where they can be obtained (mainly N. American nurseries but also research institutes and a lot of other nurseries from around the world.

[200] Huxley. A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. MacMillan Press 1992 ISBN 0-333-47494-5
Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.

[238] Bown. D. Encyclopaedia of Herbs and their Uses. Dorling Kindersley, London. 1995 ISBN 0-7513-020-31
A very well presented and informative book on herbs from around the globe. Plenty in it for both the casual reader and the serious student. Just one main quibble is the silly way of having two separate entries for each plant.

[240] Chopra. R. N., Nayar. S. L. and Chopra. I. C. Glossary of Indian Medicinal Plants (Including the Supplement). Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi. 1986
Very terse details of medicinal uses of plants with a wide range of references and details of research into the plants chemistry. Not for the casual reader.

[243] Medicinal Plants of Nepal Dept. of Medicinal Plants. Nepal. 1993
Terse details of the medicinal properties of Nepalese plants, including cultivated species and a few imported herbs.

[245] Genders. R. Scented Flora of the World. Robert Hale. London. 1994 ISBN 0-7090-5440-8
An excellent, comprehensive book on scented plants giving a few other plant uses and brief cultivation details. There are no illustrations.

[266] Flora of China 1994
On-line version of the Flora - an excellent resource giving basic info on habitat and some uses.

Readers Comments

Back to: Pathways Home page, Main Search Page Help Bibliography

Plant information taken from the Plants For A Future - Species Database. Copyright (c) 1997-2003.
WEB search engine by Rich Morris - Home Page- Contact Info
Blagdon Cross, Ashwater, Beaworthy, Devon, EX21 5DF, UK.
Website: www.pfaf.org Phone: 0845 458 4719/_44(0) 1208 872963

This page (UK) http://www.comp.leeds.ac.uk/cgi-bin/pfaf/arr_html?Amorphophallus+paeoniifolius
This page (US) http://www.ibiblio.org/pfaf/cgi-bin/arr_html?Amorphophallus+paeoniifolius

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
(You can copy, distribute, display this works but: Attribution is required, its for Non-Commercial purposes, and it's Share Alike (GNUish/copyleft) i.e. has an identical license.)
We also ask that you let us know (michael@thewitchshaven.com) if you link to, redistribute, make a derived work or do anything groovy with this information.

Pathways Home :: View Cart :: Shipping & Returns :: Contact Us :: Privacy Policy :: Philosophy :: The Witchs Haven

We make no claims of magical effects or supernatural powers for any item in this catalog. In spite of legendary attributes or occult and craft tradition, such items are offered as curios only and beliefs concerning their magical effectiveness are related only for historical interest.