Family: Araceae

This perennial herb canoe plant grows its iconic heart-shaped leaves on erect stems, which push out from the innermost stalk. Foliage color varies across numerous cultivars with some being bright green, red, purple-black, and even variegated. The kalo’s nutritious and starchy corm grows underground and takes 8-16 months to mature. When flowering, you can observe stalks rise from leaf axils with a yellow-white tubular spathe containing an erect spike inside with both male and female flowers. Kalo’s trembling and vibrant leaves beautifully adorn any yard, while the plant provides the main ingredient for traditional foods like poi, lūʻau, and sweet kūlolo!

Habitat & Uses

Kalo is native to Southeast Asia and Southern India. Many varieties were brought by early Polynesians as a staple canoe plant. At one time there may have been over 300 different cultivars, but today there are only 7-12 varieties still cultivated. This is due to the shift in monoculture agriculture after Western contact, which further accelerated kalo loss due to fungal disease, pocket rot, and invasive species. Kalo grows  in both wetland and dryland environments wherever the people live so in the uplands up to 4000 ft. and down to the marshy lands at sea level. It was estimated that kalo production areas in Hawaiʻi peaked at over 20,000 acres across the largest six islands.

The most important use of kalo was for sustenance, which made this plant an integral part of Hawaiian culture. Kalo was woven into critical creation stories, which permanently solidified this plant into the genealogy of kānaka (Hawaiian peoples). Therefore cultivating kalo was not just food production, but also the practice of caring for your sibling. In return for this care, kalo would provide the nutrition necessary for generations in perpetuity. Just remember to cook any parts of the kalo before consumption, as eating it raw can lead to acridity where the lips, mouth, and throat become itchy and in pain. Kalo not only provided physical food, but also medicine for skin sores, dye and glue for kapa (bark cloth), and bait for ʻōpelu (mackerel).

Landscaping & Cultivation

Kalo can be grown in their own patch if you plan to use for harvest or they make excellent ornamental accents in any yard.  Just be sure to give your kalo thick beds of rich soil and mulch. The variety of kalo you choose will determine the necessary watering. The best way to start growing kalo is by planting huli or the taro shoot attached to the corm. The plant will take about 2 months to establish, then spends 3 months growing out its leaves and roots, and finally about 5 months for the corm to mature.

You can tell the corm is ready to harvest when the above ground plant shrinks, the corm begins to emerge from the soil, and the little keiki (propagules) can be seen growing near the base. After harvest, make sure to remove 7/8ths of the corm from the remaining huli before planting back into the ground.  If you are growing kalo to harvest leaves for lūʻau or laulau for example, then it is best to harvest around 5 months during the plant’s peak vegetative stage.

Name Origins

One origin of the kalo name is described in Hawaiian mythology: “Ulu mai la ua alualu la, a lilo i kalo” meaning the fetus grew (when it was buried) and became a kalo. This concept is most famous in the story of Hāloa. Where father Wākea and mother Hoʻohōkūkalani bore a stillborn child which they buried in soil. Hoʻohōkūkalani’s tears shed upon the ground and out popped a green sprout. Soon a beautiful heart-shaped leaf expanded towards the sky and the first kalo plant was born. His name was Hāloanakalaukapalili. Hoʻohōkūkalani then gave birth to healthy baby boy named Hāloa who was the first kanaka (Hawaiian person).  This means all Hawaiians can be traced back to the original kalo plant and that all of the kānaka today are mamo na Hāloa or descendents of Hāloa. This story shows the vital connection between the existence of Hawaiian people and kalo.

Plant Uses:

• Aquatic plant
• Container plant
• Cultural significance
• Edible
• Medicinal
• Ornamental
• Specimen

Plant Dangers:

• Toxic to animals and humans