Here’s a puzzle for you: what plant is toxic, yet serves as a major food source for many countries in Asia? The answer: Colocasia, also known as elephant ear or taro, with its arrow-shaped leaves. In many parts of the world, taro is a major food crop for both people and farm animals, high in protein. The plant is traditionally served at Hawaiian luaus and the corms form the basis for poi, a favorite Hawaiian dish.
Yet, elephant ears contain calcium oxalate crystals, or oxalic acid, the same toxin found in rhubarb and Dieffenbachia leaves. This chemical compound contains sharp crystals that can cause serious illness and even in death if consumed in large amounts.
So, what’s going on here? How can a poisonous plant provide food for people all over the world? First, the plant is always eaten cooked, rather than raw. Cooking it breaks down the crystals, rendering them harmless. Additionally, some species are more toxic than others and the parts of this plant used as a food source are not necessarily the same varieties found in your yard.
Learn more about how to grow elephant ear plants and when to plant elephant ear bulbs.
Elephant Ear Plant Safety
Although elephant ears are not as toxic as Dieffenbachia, it’s a good idea to be careful, especially if you have young children or pets. The leaves and stems are the most toxic parts of the plants. Even exposure as simple as touching them can cause skin irritation and itching and blisters, and if you get the plant sap in your eyes, your eyes will sting and burn for several hours.
If your child or pet ingests the leaves, the first symptoms are a tingly or burning feeling in the mouth or lips and mouth irritation. Elephant ear poisoning is rarely fatal, unless large amounts are eaten. Below are some of the other symptoms associated with this plant:
- Severe burning or redness of the eyes
- Severe burning of the tongue, lips and mouth and oral irritation
- Swelling of the tongue, throat, lips and eyes
- Difficulty swallowing or excessive drooling
- Diarrhea
- Nausea
- Vomiting
First Aid
If you suspect your child has ingested elephant ear leaves, call your local poison control center or the national poison control hotline at 1-800-222-1222. Don’t force vomiting, but keep your child calm and wipe out his or her mouth with a cool, wet cloth. Flush the eyes with water if they’re stinging. If your child’s lips or mouth begin to swell, call 9-1-1 or head to the nearest emergency room. If your pet eats elephant ears, contact your vet right away.
Growing Elephant Ears
How to grow elephant ears in containers
How to plant elephant ear bulbs
17 types of elephant ears to grow
Prevention
If you love elephant ear plants, but you’ve got young children or pets, you might try a few strategies to prevent accidental poisoning. First, place the plants where they’re out of reach. Grow the plants in the front yard, rather than the backyard, where children and pets are more likely to play. Teach your kids not to touch or eat any plant in the yard. Another option would be to grow smaller varieties of elephant plants in hanging containers. Just be sure to remove any fallen leaves promptly!
Other Options
Sometimes it’s better to err on the side of caution. If you’re worried about your child’s or pet’s safety, replace elephant ears with non-toxic substitutes. Many other plants will give you the feel of the tropics, but are perfectly safe for children and pets. Below are a few to try:
- Acajou (Flame African Violet, Flame Violet, Red Violet)
- American Rubber Plant
- Arrowroot (Canna Lily, Common Garden Canna)
- Bamboo Palm
- Bamboo Vine
- Banana (Plantain)
- Big Leaf Paper Plant
- Boston Fern
- Bromeliad
- Canary Date Palm
- Cane Palm
- Christmas Dagger
- Cocks Comb
- Crisped Feather Fern
- Dwarf Date Palm
- Elephant Foot Tree
- Fishpole Bamboo
- Fortunes Palm
Resources:
Plants and Pets Non-toxic Listings from Blue Mountain Humane Society
Some Plants Are Poisonous from Purdue University Consumer Horticulture
Hey can Elephant ears cause yeast infection in dogs
i touched an elephant ear plant it was hurting my hands i had to lay it on my van and i was 11 and now im 12 btws it was my moms car
There are several types as far I know, some are eatable, some not
I grew up in Brazil and I know all about it.
Taioba is the portuguese from Brazil name of the eatable leaf
Inhame is the portuguese name of eatable root only,however there’s another type of inhame that also non eatable.
A farm person that grew up knows the difference or a biologist, don’t even try to eat because the leaves are very similar.
You are right Gil. Taro should also have been mentioned. Not too many people reply to questions here.
Well I grew up in Trinidad and tobago and we had a species we eat everything, the leaves for spinach or make a delicious callaloo, and the bulb we boil and fry with fry codfish and tomatoes its absolutely wonderful, its know as the dasheen plant
Is it safe to plant elephant ear plant with my other vegetable plants that we commune?
Try YouTube if you haven’t already gotten an answer and are still interested. Lots of info on that and Taro which looks similar.
I ate some yesterday raw and my tounge still hurts
I did a stupid and put some in my mouth just a bit ago and I hope it doesn’t last that long!
hi, yes, my parents used to, i believe when i was young, cut the elephant ear stems and strip the skins off, then cut the stems into chunks and put them into a vinegar solution, then massaged the stems well in it. then we ate them like kimchee pickles w/ our main dishes. i don’t think i remembered wrong, but plz correct me, if not. lol [lots of love] thx
I cut some elephant ears down with the weed eater and the sap, liquid in stalk, flew all over me. I had no idea the sap would make me itch like this. This was yesterday evening and that’s been about 30 hours ago. I have itched all day, I even went to the drug store and spoke with the pharacist about what I should do and the best meds for the itching. So far, Nothing is working and it is driving me crazy! It must have gotten all over my body. I even itch between my toes and I had shoes on. My feet, hands, legs, between my boobs, everything and everywhere itches!!!! Help!
I’m in thesameboat.
Didn’t wear gloves.
Itching like crazy.
Any help????
me too. mine only lasted about an hour. my husband suggested washing my hands with fast orange hand cleaner and hot soapy water. Seemed to work for me.
When I was 3 ieat a large amount of leafs it’s like drinking hot glass it does have side side effects and binaeffects I still suffer today
I had the same thing hapened to me. Within 10 minutes, the toxic oil from the stems itched and burned my arms and hands and i started feeling my fingers numb. I went to ER and had prednisone. Only steroid can relieve your symptoms. Good luck
Apple cider vinegar Will stop the itch
Sorry that happen to u but this had me crying laugh my husband told me about this happen to him and I couldn’t believe it so this lead me to this…
A friend suggested my grandson drink milk to stop the burning/itching of his tongue… Also suggested was to rub the inside of an avocado on your skin… The oil helps with the itching…
Holy Crap, me too!
I thought I had been bitten by Fire Ants. Feels the same.
Hydrocortisone cream helps some.
But it seems the main thing to minimize the burning/itching is to not flex my hands or rub my skin.
If I leave it alone the itch almost stops.
Gotta remember to NOT rub my eyes!
Think I’ll go grab a beer and sit in front of the TV.
I had same thing happen, cut them off to mulch for winter and OMG. I COULDNT BELIVE THE ITCH Both hands in between my fingers was the worst, liquid Benadryl seem to help the best ! Good luck
Hey I cut down a huge one, then dug it up for restarting somewhere else. I thought, all this green material should make for good compost. So I took the wheelbarrow full to my garden. Began cutting each one into little chunks with a butcher knife. About an hour into it, I was covered with the juice on my left hand. Thought it was water like. Then it began to itch… really bad. I took a Benadryl 50mg i had for bee stings. That helped a lot.
Will this stuff compost well? It should. Sure hope so because I sowed a lot into my garden also.
That burn/itch on skin will last about a week. I’m a landscaper by trade in south Louisiana and still get get this on my skin at least annually
I have a toy poodle that has calcium oxalate stones. In my front yard there are some plants that look like elephant ears. Dozen and dozens of them. My poodle have came close to renal failure several times. I have takin him to several vets and all have the same answer. They do not know was is causing the stones(calcium oxlate). I just read a article on this site that says some type of elephant ears has calcium oxlate Crystal’s. Did I just find my answer to Jesse ston crystal problem? Please answer if you know the answer..
My 3 year old cousin just ate off the elephant ear plant and he is screaming that his mouth an throat is burning. He’s not saying that he’s itching. He’s been given cold water and milk. Nothing is working! His mom is taking him to the ER. What could she have done to stop the burning. And is this plant poison to eat?
I had no idea about this poison on them and went into a far to pull up all the plants and had the elephant are all over me I was suffering big time the only relief I got was bathing in a very hot half cup of bleach 10 cm of water. You instantly feel the relief from the itching it’s like a really relaxing Spa bat so you know it feel better that is where I recommend because I haven’t had a problem since
I got some on my hands and ingested some.now my throat is irritated.
I got some on my hands and ingested some.now my throat is irritated.
Well I’m sitting here using talk to text because both of my hard are inflamed and horribly painful to touch or move. It’s an AWFUL stinging sensation that has me almost in tears. All I did was cut off a few stems/leave and of course was not wearing gloves. I had NO idea that they caused such intense pain!!!
Do elephant ears bloom?
Yes they do. After the flower which is like a peace lily flower it has a seed head with about 50 beautiful red seeds on it. They are about the size of pepper corns. At least my are red.
Yes! They look similar to a peace lily flower and they produce a red berry cluster of seeds it happened to my twenty year old giant elephant ears twice. I must say I never knew about the intense itching until I was cleaning it up from frost. Yikes
I f*** ate the stem thinking that it looked like celery My throat fells like a wasp bite I hate my life right now
I thought it looked like celery too. I only took 1 bite yesterday and still feel it.
My Korean neighbor asked me if she could cut my elephant ears down to cook a Korean dish for me to try. I said no. Instead she pickled rashishes and gave it to me to eat. I ate one and ended up in the emergency room twice. She poisoned me. I lost seventy pounds and was at death door. We have an order of protection against her. The police detective in Nashville TN are not doing a thing. She says my Husband is her #2 husband. I think she is a dellusional psychpath. She kept calling our home; which violated the order of protection; so we are hoping the Judge sentences her to jail. All I have to say is be very careful.
It took me 3 years to talk after eating a lot when I was 3 years old I should not be alive now I am 54 years old
I had no idea that these plants were toxic. I’ve had them both in my garden and in my house for YEARS with my family in close proximity with no problems until a curious 4 year old wanted to see what was inside the stem.
Within 10 minutes or less our hands were on FIRE.
Remove all clothing and get into the tub, and as painful as it will be, SCRUB with soap and water. Then do it again. Apply a hydrocortisone cream, or other topical analgesic to the areas that you can.
Ice packs also helped out to get the sting to subside.
This is terrible and if you have someone or a pet that has EATEN this, do not delay, GO TO THE E.R.!!!
Is not elephant ear and taro different? I see pictures of both on here? Taro is very edible. Tubers are like potato and are used in many cultures. Elephant needs more process to be edible than taro that is cooked and strained then used. Where the button on the leave is, is one identification to which is which.
No sooner did i finish weed wacking and mowing over invasive elephant ears i started feeling pain in jaw like a tooth going bad. Spread to areas like ears and throat and pain when taking deep breaths. Havent read of symptoms like that but cant explain what was happening.
Did you get a reply because I am concerned my child ate some 3 days ago and still complains about tightness on his throat should I be concerned any one had this experience befor
Hi please help my cow eat elephant ear plant what are the traditional way to cure.
The water off the elephant ear got into my eye what should I do it wont stop burning?
Are youn referring to the weeping water? If so, I’m sorry this happened to you but you also may have solved my dogs mystery.
Please let me know if this was the weeping water
You just gotta wait it out. 1.5 days
Can anybody clarify if the pooled (on deck) weeping water is toxic. Clearly the leaves are..
(although I’ve touched them and not experienced anything bad.)
Has anybody experienced their dog drinking from pooled elephant ear weeping water on the ground? As well as licking a leave?
My dog had a very crazy incident Sunday and I’m trying to figure out from what. I had no idea one of my favorite summer potted plants were toxic until yesterday.
I’m now wondering if this is what caused her incident.
Im too embarrassed to tell my mom i got the urge to bite the large plant cus i felt like a dino. Dino part aside its still dumb and im so embarrassed. I refuse to go to the hospital since i didnt ingest it, but im gurgling cold almond milk. After the first few chews i thought it was good enough to put in a salad, and then suddenly it started to bite me back and i almost vomited. Nothing is helping with the stinging.
Hi, I dug up a small piece of a taro plant for my cousin. I didnt have on gloves. I touched a wilted piece that was growing back from winter cold weather. It was somewhat slimy. Since then I have been experiencing tingling in my hands, parts of my arms and my toes. Could this tingling be from touching this balk?
A couple suggestions for those of you that are unfortunate enough to get the plant fluid or plant “guts” on your skin.
*Do not scratch, rub, or touch affected area, nor should you touch anything until you wash your hands, because it could spread.
*Cleanse the affected area with soap and rinse with cool water. Gently, do not scrub. Pat dry with paper towels. If the fluid is oily, it can spread to other linen or clothing items. Warm or hot water will cause your pores to expand (as well as, causing the pores of the fabrics to expand) causing the fluid to reach deeper into your skin, making it more difficult to get out.
Wash your clothes/towels with ammonia to dissolve the oil, if in fact, it is an oily substance.
*In the event of getting it in your eyes, flush your eyes immediately and continuously while you (or hopefully someone else) call poison control.
Experience/Reference:
– Many childhood years of unknowingly playing in poison ivy.
– Many adult years of unknowingly mowing down or weed whacking a hidden patch of the same stuff.
?
Hope this helps.
Happy and safe planting to you!
After Weed eating to thin my plants out. I was covered in little pieces of the plant. It wasn’t long before I started itching all over! I showered for a while to wash the plant off of me good. The next day and I’m still itching like crazy!
Today I was caught in a rainstorm and soaking wet while I weed wacked the taro growing by my house. The fact that my clothes were wet enabled the stinging acidic crystals from the plants to rapidly penetrate my pants and shirt and get on my skin. OMG, my chest, arms, and legs were on FIRE with an incredible burning sensation. I stripped off my wet clothes and jumped into the shower, where I needed to stand under cold water for a half hour as I repeatedly soaped and shampooed my entire body. The pain slowly subsided but NEVER AGAIN will I weed wack taro. It is the equivalent to dousing yourself in acid.
When I was 5, a friend and I pulled off elephant ear leaves to use as “lily pads” in our “pond” (kiddie pool). It was a lot of fun swimming and playing with these things… until it wasn’t! We both started to itch and burn like crazy! Experienced lots of crying and washing in clean, cold water.
As an adult I have handled elephant ear plants without thinking. They don’t seem to be a problem unless you break the stem or leaves. The liquid it emits isn’t oily. It’s definitely hydrophobic (repels water). Watch as water beads up on the leaf tops. Looks really neat, just don’t handle the plants!
DO NOT EAT! When I was little my grandmother said don’t ever eat Elephant Ear because it will make your mouth hurt and water won’t help. She got in trouble when she was a girl for getting a teacher she didn’t like to eat it and got spanked. Needless to say I did NOT listen to her advice and I tasted it. It made my mouth hurt for a long time and there was nothing I could do about it. That was well over 50 years ago and I still remember. I should have listened to my grandmother.