Remusatia vivipara

Common Name: Hitchhiker Elephant Ear

Family: Araceae

Synonym(s): Caladium viviparum Lodd.

Country of Origin: Trop. & Subtrop. Old World

Habitat: epiphytic in leaf litter traps on large trees

Description: Tuberous aroid from which arises leaves and simple upright stems bearing scale- leaves in the axils of which are bulbils covered with hooked cataphylls, which serve to disperse them when mature.

Tuber depressed globose, 2-4 x 3.5-5 cm; stolons erect, simple, stout; bulbils ellipsoid, 0.5-2.5 mm, stout; bristles to 1.5 mm, stout. Cataphylls 4 or more, brownish, broad, concealing peduncle, ca. 15 x 3 cm. Petiole 19-42 cm, proximal 1/4 sheathing; leaf blade glossy on both sides, pale green abaxially, green adaxially, oblong-ovate or lanceolate, 11-33 x 7-19.5 cm, sinus 1.5-3 cm; intramarginal vein indistinct. Flowering before leaves develop. Peduncle 6-12 cm. Spathe tube green outside, 3-5 x 1.3-2 cm; limb initially erect, later reflexed, yellow inside, obovate, 5.3-11.5 x 2.5-9 cm, narrowed to base, apex acute, apiculate. Spadix: female zone 1.7-2 cm x 7-9 mm, with 3 or 4 whorls of sterile ovaries at apex and 1 or 2 whorls at base; sterile zone 1.1-2.5 cm, slender, tapering distally; male zone yellowish, clavate, cylindric, 1.5-2.2 cm x 4-7 mm. Fl. Apr-Sep. 2n = 28, 42.³

Uses: The tubers are poisonous. They are used externally to treat mastitis, traumatic injuries, abscesses, and swellings.³

USDA Zone: 7b-11

Accession #: 200000044

Accession Date: 2000-07-07 00:00:00

Confirmed At: 2026-03-10 19:18:38

Bloom Status: 🪴 Not Flowering

Location: 1204

Quantity: 3

Source: Brian Williams

Culture: Keep from freezing, but give a dry dormancy in the winter months. Will grow potted, but in its natural state is epiphytic in tree branch detritus.

Division: Magnoliophyta

Class: Liliopsida

Subclass: monocots

Order: Alismatales

Family: Araceae

SubFamily: Aroideae

Tribe: Colocasieae