Species
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Amorphophallus paeoniifolius (Dennst.) Nicolson

Elephant foot yam, Elephant yam, Mariko, Tiko, Gali

Climate known 70 photographs Bulb, tuber or caudex
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

Amorphophallus paeoniifolius, commonly known as the elephant foot yam or whitespot giant arum, is a tropical plant native to Island Southeast Asia. It is cultivated for its edible tubers in Southeast Asia, South Asia, Madagascar, New Guinea, and the Pacific islands. Because of its production potential and popularity as a vegetable in various cuisines, it can be raised as a cash crop. The plant and its tuber are also known as suran or jimmikand.

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

About the genus · Amorphophallus

Amorphophallus is a large genus of some 200 tropical and subtropical tuberous herbaceous plants from the arum family (Araceae), native to Asia, Africa, Australia and various oceanic islands. The genus includes the Titan arum of Indonesia, which has the largest inflorescence in the genus, and is known as the 'corpse flower' for the pungent odour it produces during its flowering period, which can take up to seven years of growth before it occurs.

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

Family
Araceae
Described by
(Dennst.) Nicolson
Native to
China South-Central, Hainan, China Southeast +22
Wild records
869 in range· 395 open

At a glance

Warmest month
31°C
Apr, mean day; nights 24 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1537mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Sep 217 mm (CHELSA)
Light
31–38DLI
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 bulb, tuber or caudex by the genus Amorphophallus, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). Rain rule: a sharp rainy season, May to October at the habitat (not shifted); the temperature curve is flat (2.2 °C of range), so no growing season is inferred. Habitat rain 1537 mm a year, wettest September at 217 mm, driest January at 32 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 31 to 38 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 18.1 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
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 Amorphophallus campanulatus Decne.; Amorphophallus campanulatus f. darnleyensis F.M.Bailey; Amorphophallus campanulatus subsp. blumei Prain; Amorphophallus campanulatus subsp. darnleyensis F.M.Bailey; Amorphophallus campanulatus var. blumei Prain and 34 more.

Cultivation

Grouped as a bulb, tuber or caudex by the genus Amorphophallus, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). The table holds no figure for this group, which spans too much for one minimum; the cold floor is the habitat's alone, and no prose comes from the table.

Its year Rain rule: a sharp rainy season, May to October at the habitat (not shifted); the temperature curve is flat (2.2 °C of range), so no growing season is inferred.

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

The rain rule reads a sharp season: 70% of the year's rain (1110 mm of 1537 mm) falls in May to October. The temperature curve is flat, 2.2 °C between the warmest and coldest month, so the growing-season rule does not infer a growing season from it. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; with a flat temperature curve there is no season to reverse, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.

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 1537 mm a year, wettest September at 217 mm, driest January at 32 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1537 mm a year at the habitat, 1110 mm of it May to October. Wettest month September at 217 mm, driest January at 32 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 1220 mm to 3138 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: 31 to 38 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 31 to 38 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 24, the highest 90th-percentile month 44).

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 18.1 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 18.1 °C, the absolute minimum 14.6 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 30.1 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 21.4 °C in January (across the envelope cells 12.1 °C to 25.1 °C), warmest day 31.3 °C in April (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 18.1 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

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. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 62 to 67% 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 28 °C in Dec to 31 °C in Apr; mean night from 21 °C in Jan to 24 °C in May. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 1537 mm of rain a year, most in Sep. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 604 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 14.6 °C and the 99th-percentile day 30.1 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.10°15°20°25°30°35°40°30.1° 99th-percentile day (undated)14.6° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500600mm rainDLI 31–38RH 62–67 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 604 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 °C28 / 23–3229 / 25–3231 / 27–3431 / 27–3630 / 27–3529 / 27–3229 / 26–3129 / 26–3229 / 27–3329 / 27–3428 / 26–3328 / 24–32
Night °C21 / 12–2522 / 14–2523 / 18–2524 / 20–2624 / 21–2624 / 20–2623 / 19–2623 / 19–2523 / 20–2523 / 19–2522 / 16–2622 / 13–25
Rain mm32 / 5–40937 / 7–37973 / 13–31198 / 24–238157 / 14–269183 / 2–499205 / 2–579214 / 3–506217 / 15–367134 / 41–325120 / 23–28567 / 7–327
DLI33 / 27–3735 / 30–4038 / 33–4238 / 32–4435 / 31–4232 / 26–3432 / 24–3532 / 24–3932 / 27–4332 / 28–4431 / 26–4231 / 25–37
RH %63 / 53–7063 / 51–7062 / 48–7062 / 51–6964 / 50–6966 / 50–7166 / 50–7267 / 52–7266 / 55–7164 / 56–7063 / 54–6962 / 53–70

Each figure is the median across the 604 grid cells holding the 772 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 1360:6016 (21.975, 120.825). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 14.6 °C, 1st-percentile night 18.1 °C, 99th-percentile day 30.1 °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 604 distinct grid cells holding the 772 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1360:6016 (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 22.00_120.625, lapse-corrected +74 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 98 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, India, Sri Lanka, Andaman Is., Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Borneo, Jawa, Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, Maluku, Philippines, Sulawesi, Sumatera, New Guinea, Northern Territory· introduced: Comoros, Madagascar, Seychelles, Fiji, Niue, New Caledonia, Samoa, Vanuatu, Cook Is., Marquesas, Society Is., Trinidad-Tobago
Kew's description“tuberous geophyte” · “seasonally dry tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker18.887, 98.913 · in the densest population, 177 records (20% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 869 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 395 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 4955 km away. 107 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 97 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 inside the densest 4° block of the 869 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Amorphophallus paeoniifoliusAmorphophallus paeoniifoliusAmorphophallus paeoniifoliusAmorphophallus paeoniifoliusAmorphophallus paeoniifoliusAmorphophallus paeoniifoliusAmorphophallus paeoniifoliusAmorphophallus paeoniifolius

Photographs: no rights reserved · CC0 (3); (c) Hrishikesh Bhaskaran, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA); (c) chiuluan, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); (c) Utain Pummarin, some rights reserved (CC BY).

Photographs: iNaturalist 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 Amorphophallus paeoniifolius, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Lactobacillus plantarum with Functional Properties: An Approach to Increase Safety and Shelf-Life of Fermented Foods
Sudhanshu S. Behera, Ramesh C. Ray, Nevijo Zdolec (2018) · BioMed Research International
Ethnomedicinal botany of the Apatani in the Eastern Himalayan region of India
Chandra Prakash Kala (2005) · Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine
Unlocking plant resources to support food security and promote sustainable agriculture
Tiziana Ulian, Mauricio Diazgranados, Samuel Pironon, S. Padulosi (2020) · Plants People Planet
Traditionally fermented pickles: How the microbial diversity associated with their nutritional and health benefits?
Sudhanshu S. Behera, Aly El Sheikha, Riadh Hammami, Awanish Kumar (2020) · Journal of Functional Foods
Biosynthesis of Gold and Silver Nanoparticles Using Phytochemical Compounds
Ade Zuhrotun, Dede Jihan Oktaviani, Aliya Nur Hasanah (2023) · Molecules
An ethnobotanical study of medicinal plants used by traditional healers in silent valley of Kerala, India
J.E. Morvin Yabesh, S. Prabhu, S. Vijayakumar (2014) · Journal of Ethnopharmacology
Biosynthesis of Silver and Gold Nanoparticles and Their Efficacy Towards Antibacterial, Antibiofilm, Cytotoxicity, and Antioxidant Activities
Mohamed K. Y. Soliman, Salem S. Salem, Mohammed Abu‐Elghait, Mohamed Salah Azab (2022) · Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology
Biosynthesis of Nanoparticles Using Plant Extracts and Essential Oils
Sérgio Antunes Filho, Mayara Santana dos Santos, Otávio Augusto L. dos Santos, Bianca Pizzorno Backx (2023) · Molecules
The domestication syndrome in vegetatively propagated field crops
Tim Denham, Huw Barton, Cristina Castillo, Alison Crowther (2020) · Annals of Botany

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 Amorphophallus 1 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 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)
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 62 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.