On a recent trip to Mt Cootha Botanical gardens in Brisbane I was surprised to find Elephant foot yam and even more surprising to learn that they are native to Northern Australia. They are cultivated for the tuber in Asia, India, Africa and the Pacific Islands. I’ve also seen them growing in the Subtropics and have read about growing them indoors in Temperate regions.

The tubers are planted in Spring and the plant grows to about 1m. The tubers are harvested in Winter when the plant dies back.  Elephant foot yam contain Calcium Oxalate which require cooking to deactivate.

The first year I planted my tuber on the river flats, it grew well but left in the ground over Winter the tubers rot. The soil here is to cold and damp over Winter. So next year I grew them in a large pot.

There are at least 40 eyes for new plants to emerge, keeping the tuber in a clear bag with coir and left in a warm sunny spot will help speed up the emerging shoots.