What Does an Elephant Ear Flower Look Like? | Aroid (Araceae) Inflorescence Morphology

Have you ever seen Alocasia (elephant ear plant) blooming? If you’ve ever seen any plants from the family Araceae (aroids) flowering, you might be confused about the structure of their flowers. Their inflorescences are quite unusual, and in this video, you’ll learn what the individual parts are called and what purpose they serve. You’ll learn about the spathe and spadix and about thermogenesis, which is a cool feature in some aroid plants (such as the titan arum, which has the biggest inflorescence in the world).

[@roblink4781]

I'm in Iowa and put my tropicals out in the spring. They thrive in the heat here in the Midwest but this year it has been exceptionally warm and humid with a steady supply of rain and to my joy one of my elephant ears is beginning to flower, I'm super excited.

[@elidefigueira4106]

this is my new favourite channel

[@natureclearly]

Thank you and welcome! 🤗

[@michelehammer8084]

This is so informative! Thank you. My alocasia pink dragon is growing two flowers!!

[@natureclearly]

That's exciting! I've never been able to keep Alocasia dragon alive long term, so it's really exciting that yours is going to bloom! Let me know whether the blooms get stinky!😊

[@premkumar9608]

Your presentation is just class of its own. Enjoying every session of your videos thanks.

[@natureclearly]

Thank you so much! ❤

[@graceevangelista7209]

Has anyone noticed that their elephant ear flowers smell bad? I have 3 blooming right now in my house and to me it smells like pee but not sure if that’s just me. Lol

[@natureclearly]

The smell of this inflorescence was very strong as well! Not very pleasant...