The ones I bought at the Indian food market were Colocasia :o) Dan

I have only ever bought malanga at the store and planted it. It is a Xanthosoma. There are differences in what you will come out with, however. (I buy a few new ones every year and plant them in different spots, its a cheepo way to get new plants) One year I got plain dark green one that resembles Xanthosoma sagittifolia, but the leaves are slightly different. It is very large growing (6-8 ft) and trunkforming. Out of the same batch of tubers, I got an identical plant, but it has BLACK stems. This year I have gotten a small growing plant with extremely triangular leaves that doesn't get over 3 ft. I have a friend in Central FL (Tampa area) that was lucky enough to get a green and white VARIEGATED one from the malanga bin, and the variegation has been stable. She has shared with me so I have it too.

The thing to remember about grocery store tubers is that worldwide, there are MANY plants that are considered "edible taro". The now much sought after "Milky Way" is supposedly a very old Hawaiian variety that they called "ELEPAIO" after a mythological bird, and which they used widely for food.

Bihai - would these be hardy in zone 7, do you think? Some of the taros are, so I wonder.

A lot of very large asian markets have sprung up in my neighborhood, which is part of the asian district in Oklahoma City. I have not checked them out yet, but look forward to it.

I thought if you found imperial taro, that it was actually 'Illustris' - no?

Susan

Susan,
the Xanthosomas I have are among my hardiest plants. They get those huge trunks on them and just seem to come back forever. If they weren't you could probably dig them up and store tubers. I don't know how to do that exactly as its not something I have ever had to worry about.

Imperial taro is Colocasia antiquorum "Illustris", you are correct about that. But its not variegated with white, it has a black pattern

Last Spring I bouught Yautia, Dasheen, Malanga and Taro from a grocery store in Atlanta. Each one was labeled with place of origin (the Taro was imported from Costa Rica, the Yautia from Dominican Republic I think. etc etc) They all turned out to be Xanthosoma, except for Taro, which of couse was Colocasia. I agree with Bahia though, they are quite hardy and get HUGE, especially in USDA 8b-10, where they often do not die back in the winter. My mother has a nice clump of what I ordered as Malanga from Caladium World, about 12 years ago, in her back yard. She is in 8a and they come back full force every year. Mine are marginal here in 7b. They sometimes rot in the winter but the last few years it has been rather warm and dry so they have been fine.
Michael M.