Colocasia fontanesii
A tall, clumping taro relative from the monsoon hills of the eastern Himalaya, Yunnan and northern Indochina, grown for its dark purple-black leaf stalks. In the wild it grows in wet ground along streams and at forest edges, with a hot, very wet summer and a cool, dry winter. Grow it warm, wet and bright in summer, and let it slow down, cooler and less wet, over winter.
Where it grows wild
A terrestrial herb with an upright rhizome and runners. The Flora of China treats this name under Colocasia antiquorum and describes that plant's habitat as dense rain forest, evergreen broad-leaved forest and forest margins in limestone valleys, along streams, and in moist shaded thickets. It roots in constantly moist to wet soil at the edge of water or in seepage areas, with its leaves in broken light rather than deep shade.
The Flora of China gives 600–1200 m for C. antiquorum in Yunnan.
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