Amorphophallus paeoniifolius

Elephant foot yam
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Monocots
Order:	Alismatales
Family:	Araceae
Genus:	Amorphophallus
Species:	A. paeoniifolius
Binomial name
Amorphophallus paeoniifolius (Dennst.) Nicolson, 1977
Synonyms
Amorphophallus campanulatus (Roxb.) Blume ex Decne Amorphophallus chatty Andrews Amorphophallus decurrens (Blanco) Kunth. Amorphophallus dixenii K.Larsen & S.S.Larsen Amorphophallus dubius Blume Amorphophallus gigantiflorus Hayata Amorphophallus malaccensis Ridl. Amorphophallus microappendiculatus Engl. Amorphophallus rex Prain Amorphophallus sativus Blume Amorphophallus virosus N.E.Br. Arum decurrens Blanco Arum phalliferum Oken Arum rumphii Oken Conophallus sativus (Blume) Schott Dracontium paeoniifolium Dennst. Dracontium polyphyllum G.Forst. Hydrosme gigantiflora (Hayata) S.S.Ying Plesmonium nobile Schott Pythion campanulatum Mart.

Amorphophallus paeoniifolius, the elephant foot yam or whitespot giant arum or stink lily, is a tropical tuber crop grown primarily in Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia and the tropical 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 gives off a putrid smell. The pistillate (female) and staminate (male) flowers are on the same plant and are crowded in cylindrical masses. The berries are red when ripe and are not quite round, being or .

Elephant foot yam is of Southeast Asian origin. It grows in its wild form in India, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, and other Southeast Asian countries.

In India this species as a crop is grown mostly in Bihar, West Bengal, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Orissa. It is popularly known as "oal" (ol (ওল) in Bengali, suran or jimikand in Marathi and Hindi, Chenai kizhangu in Tamil, suvarna gedde (ಸುವರ್ಣ ಗೆಡ್ಡೆ) in Kannada, chena (ചേന) in Malayalam, oluo in Oriya, kanda gadda in Telugu and kaene in Tulu).

In Bihar it is used in oal curry, oal bharta or chokha, pickles and chutney. Oal chutney is also called "barabar chutney" as it has mango, ginger and oal in equal quantities, hence the name barabar (meaning "in equal amount").

In West Bengal, these yams are eaten fried or in yam curry. The plant body of elephant foot yam is also eaten in West Bengal as a green vegetable called Bengali: ওল শাক "ol shaak".

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Wikipedia