Have Taro here....green and variegated......not sure what variety it is.

Yes..I planted edible taro variety (indian names Arbi, Paatra) this year in zone 9A Daytona. Bought a single plant from a local market. Transplanted into ground with partial shade, moist soil with good drain, fed good compost and now its multiplying rapidly.

hi

What a wonderfully confused family !!! There are dozens if not hundreds of types plus an equal number of hybrids all most all are referred to as Taro or more common elephant ears makes ID them lots of fun ??

I've grown the variety called "Black Magic " for many years but have since learned there are at least 5 others called "black magic" The main family is Alocasia/ Colocasia plus some rarer families BUT there are hybrids also.

I got my education when my wife brought home one marked "Black Magic

Thinking it the semi aquatic A esculenta I placed it in my marsh garden it wilted before my eyes lol. On closer inspection and a LOT of searching found it actually was Alocasia infernalis a dry growing semi epi. type which explained the wilting lol On searching for info . found all kinds of directly contradictory culture About all they agreed upon was it was "Difficult " Absolutely stunning plant was almost black but with a suffusion of a reddish orange . Was told this is the reason for the latin name infernalis ' which translates to "out of Hell"" lol

I think it's because it was so picky lol Why would you give the same name to 4 different plants in the same family!!!

I'm a big fan of aroids particularly alocasia and most are incredibly easy to grow depending on the water needs . They are all tropical to my knowledge so hate cold but many will just go dormant and return when the weather warms many get gigantic and are somewhat invasive. Some require standing water and some require dry spells.. Most are very adaptable Flowers aren't much except for the giants ,mainly because the size is so impressive??

Anyway good luck wiith your "Taro" even more luck getting an ID gary

I grow many types of colocasia and some alocasias and xanthosomas. I am in NE FL they do great here. Some kinds are more tender than others. Some like more water than others.