Keladi

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Keladi or elephant ear are member of araceae family. The Araceae are herbaceous monocots with more than 100 genera and about 3700 species.

Beside keladi, other members of Araceae are: Aglaonema, Philidendron, Anthurium, Amorphophallus, Zamioculcas, etc. The family is best characterized by its distinctive inflorescence, a spadix with bisexual or unisexual (sometimes with sterile region) and subtended by a solitary spathe on a long or very short peduncle. In Indonesia the term Keladi usually refers to Colocasia, Alocasia & Xanthosoma genera. In English, those three genera called Elephant ear, because of it’s ear-shaped leaves. Far before human recognize seeds as source of food (e.g.: rice, wheat, corn, etc.) we have been using tubers as food. One of these tubers are keladi which is Alocasia. Besides it’s tuber, the stem of keladi (a corm) are edible too. Prolonged boiling needed before we can consume those foods. Caladium is a genera which called keladi too. But it’s not native to Indonesia, the western brought these plants to Indonesia during colonial periods hundreds years ago. This genus is the most colorful keladi. New hybrids are easily produced by the expert so very broad choices of caladiums are available