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How To Grow Giant Elephant Ear, Colocasia Tropical Plant From Supermarket Bulbs Video I believe this is Colocasia esculenta rather than Alocasia macrorhizza however if I am wrong please correct me, I believe the alocasias are upright elephant's ears. The leaves are held horizontally, with the tips pointed, more-or-less, upwards. The colocasias, and the xanthosomas, have leaves that face you. Their leaf tips point downward but to me they all look very much the same, whatever it is this plant looks tropical and it cost me almost nothing! I bought these giant bulbs from the local market for about 50 cents each where they are sold for food, I knew that they grow large tropical leaves so decided to plant the large bulbs and 4 weeks later was greeted with tropical greenery. I have noticed that in many parts of the world mail order places and garden centres will sell Giant Elephant Ear plants for lots of money and shipping but you can get these bulbs from many ethnic shops and grocery stores and supermarkets like Tesco, Safeway and Asda. They are sometimes labelled as "yams" or "colocasia" "taro" or "dasheen" It is very easy to get confused by the different species and you might notice the bulbs look different, but when planted you can have a tropical plant for pennies rather than $10 or more! It's very easy, select a bulbs or a variety of bulbs from the supermarket that look fresh and hopefully have some growth on them, plant them the "eye side" up or on the side if you are unsure and keep the pot or area sunny and moist but not wet as the bulbs tend to rot if they are not growing but once established love moisture. These make a great border filler and in the autumn if desired you can lift them and store them again for next year if you are living in an area that get's snow or take them indoors as a house plant. If you are lucky your bulb will have grown little "pups" where you can have new plants. Unless you know what you are doing I would not advise on eating these bulbs as if they are not cooked long enough they can be toxic so if you are intent on making a meal of your plant do some research on the internet before you get cooking but all in honesty I feel potatoes taste much better! If you are after a selection of fresh tropical seeds sent from the UK to most places worldwide check out our store www.tropicalrareseeds.com