Species
+

Alocasia cucullata (Lour.) G.Don

Buddha's hand, Chinese Taro, Chinese ape, Chinese taro

Climate known 71 photographs Tropical foliage plant
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Alocasia cucullata is a species of flowering plant in the arum family, Araceae. It is known by the common names Chinese taro, Chinese ape, Buddha's hand, and hooded dwarf elephant ear. It is kept as an ornamental plant.

Text from Wikipedia, “Alocasia cucullata”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Alocasia

Alocasia is a genus of rhizomatous or tuberous, broad-leaved, perennial, flowering plants from the family Araceae. There are about 90 accepted species native to tropical and subtropical Asia and eastern Australia. Around the world, many growers widely cultivate a range of hybrids and cultivars as ornamentals.

Text from Wikipedia, “Alocasia”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Araceae
Described by
(Lour.) G.Don
Native to
China South-Central, Hainan, China Southeast +10
Wild records
275 in range· 67 open

At a glance

Warmest month
30°C
Jul, mean day; nights 24 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1682mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Jul 272 mm (CHELSA)
Light
22–32DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Grouped as a tropical foliage plant by the genus Alocasia, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). Rain rule: a summer growing season, May to September in the northern hemisphere (May to September at the habitat, northern). Habitat rain 1682 mm a year, wettest July at 272 mm, driest December at 26 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 22 to 32 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 12 °C (archetype minimum for a tropical foliage plant, above the 2.0 °C habitat night).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Alocasia rugosa (Desf.) Schott; Arum cucullatum Lour.; Caladium colocasia Schott; Caladium colocasia Schott ex Wight; Caladium cucullatum (Lour.) Pers. and 5 more.

Cultivation

Grouped as a tropical foliage plant by the genus Alocasia, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). The table supplies one figure for this group, a conventional minimum for the cold floor, and no prose.

Its year Rain rule: a summer growing season, May to September in the northern hemisphere (May to September at the habitat, northern).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the year's rain (1221 mm of 1682 mm) falls in May to September, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 26.7 °C against a yearly mean of 22.1 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: November to March.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 1682 mm a year, wettest July at 272 mm, driest December at 26 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1682 mm a year at the habitat, 1221 mm of it May to September. Wettest month July at 272 mm, driest December at 26 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 1132 mm to 3274 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 22 to 32 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 22 to 32 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 13, the highest 90th-percentile month 41).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor 12 °C (archetype minimum for a tropical foliage plant, above the 2.0 °C habitat night).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 2.0 °C, the absolute minimum -2.9 °C, 26 frost nights in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 35.8 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 10.0 °C in January (across the envelope cells 4.1 °C to 20.3 °C), warmest day 29.7 °C in July (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 12 °C. The habitat figure, the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER), is 2.0 °C; the archetype table's conventional minimum for a tropical foliage plant (grouped by the genus Alocasia, which is reliably one kind of plant) is 12 °C, which is higher, and the floor rule takes the higher.

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence, and the archetype table's group minimum where that is higher. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 59 to 66% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 18 °C in Jan to 30 °C in Jul; mean night from 10 °C in Jan to 24 °C in Jul. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 1682 mm of rain a year, most in Jul. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 81 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -2.9 °C and the 99th-percentile day 35.8 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-10°10°20°30°40°frost35.8° 99th-percentile day (undated)-2.9° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500600mm rainDLI 22–32RH 59–66 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 81 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C18 / 11–2919 / 13–3022 / 16–3326 / 21–3428 / 23–3229 / 24–3130 / 25–3230 / 24–3229 / 23–3027 / 21–2923 / 17–2820 / 13–28
Night °C10 / 4–2012 / 5–2115 / 9–2319 / 13–2522 / 15–2523 / 17–2524 / 18–2623 / 18–2622 / 16–2519 / 13–2315 / 9–2211 / 5–21
Rain mm27 / 7–8946 / 14–11371 / 34–166144 / 62–225240 / 102–332254 / 121–445272 / 145–532247 / 140–407208 / 96–37697 / 61–27950 / 22–21626 / 10–105
DLI22 / 13–3323 / 14–3729 / 17–4032 / 22–4131 / 26–3730 / 25–3531 / 25–3630 / 26–3429 / 24–3228 / 22–3125 / 17–3022 / 16–30
RH %61 / 55–6762 / 53–6662 / 51–6764 / 54–6864 / 60–6966 / 61–7266 / 61–7266 / 62–7165 / 61–7063 / 59–6860 / 57–6859 / 55–65

Each figure is the median across the 81 grid cells holding the 88 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1347:5803 (22.625, 110.175). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -2.9 °C, 1st-percentile night 2.0 °C, 99th-percentile day 35.8 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 81 distinct grid cells holding the 88 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1347:5803 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 22.50_110.000, lapse-corrected -111 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 80 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeChina South-Central, Hainan, China Southeast, Taiwan, Assam, Bangladesh, East Himalaya, Sri Lanka, West Himalaya, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam· introduced: Japan, Nansei-shoto, Ogasawara-shoto, Vanuatu, Cook Is., Tubuai Is., Caroline Is., Costa Rica, Honduras, Windward Is.
Kew's description“subshrub” · “wet tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker24.804, 121.466 · in the densest population, 167 records (61% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 275 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 67 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 10 km away. 275 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 187 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 275 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Alocasia cucullataAlocasia cucullataAlocasia cucullataAlocasia cucullataAlocasia cucullataAlocasia cucullataAlocasia cucullataAlocasia cucullata

Photographs: no rights reserved · CC0 (3); (c) Franz Anthony, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Kevin Faccenda, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) 胡正恆(Jackson Hu), some rights reserved (CC BY) (2).

Photographs: iNaturalist and Wikimedia Commons did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Alocasia cucullata, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Pantoea: insights into a highly versatile and diverse genus within the Enterobacteriaceae
Alyssa M. Walterson, John Stavrinides (2015) · FEMS Microbiology Reviews
Anticancer activities of TCM and their active components against tumor metastasis
Kailong Wang, Qian Chen, Yingying Shao, Shuangshuang Yin (2020) · Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy
Pantoea agglomerans: a mysterious bacterium of evil and good. Part III. Deleterious effects: infections of humans, animals and plants
Jacek Dutkiewicz, Barbara Maćkiewicz, Marta Kinga Lemieszek, Marcin Golec (2016) · Annals of Agricultural and Environmental Medicine
Separation, purification, structure characterization, and immune activity of a polysaccharide from Alocasia cucullata obtained by freeze-thaw treatment
Huxuan Gong, Xiao Tan, Jiaojiao Hou, Zan Gong (2024) · International Journal of Biological Macromolecules
Efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine in treating cancer
Jiao Nie, Changlin Zhao, Li Deng, Jia Chen (2015) · Biomedical Reports
Giant taro and its relatives: A phylogeny of the large genus Alocasia (Araceae) sheds light on Miocene floristic exchange in the Malesian region
Lars Nauheimer, Peter C. Boyce, Susanne S. Renner (2011) · Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution
Assessment of wild leafy vegetables traditionally consumed by the ethnic communities of Manipur, northeast India
Surjata Konsam, Biseshwori Thongam, A. K. Handique (2016) · Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine
THE EVOLUTION OF POLLINATOR-PLANT INTERACTION TYPES IN THE ARACEAE
Marion Chartier, Marc Gibernau, Susanne S. Renner (2013) · Evolution
Paddy weed control by medicinal and leguminous plants from Southeast Asia
Tran Dang Khanh, Nguyen Huu Hong, Tran Dang Xuan, Ill Min Chung (2004) · Crop Protection
Phylogenetic and specificity studies of two-domain GNA-related lectins: generation of multispecificity through domain duplication and divergent evolution
Els J. M. Van Damme, Sachiko Nakamura‐Tsuruta, David F. Smith, Maté Ongenaert (2007) · Biochemical Journal
Phylogenomic Analyses of Alismatales Shed Light into Adaptations to Aquatic Environments
Ling‐Yun Chen, Bei Lü, Diego F. Morales‐Briones, Michael L. Moody (2022) · Molecular Biology and Evolution

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Alocasia 5 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 36 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.