Oal / Elephant Foot Yam
Amorphophallus paeoniifolius
- Habit
- Herb
- Found in India
- Kerala, Maharashtra, Karnataka & more
- Flowering
- May-June
How to identify Oal
Identify Oal by combining habit, leaf characters, flower or fruit details, location, and its family pattern. Do not rely on one feature alone.
- Look for a herb habit.
- Check the distinctive field mark: Single huge compound leaf on a mottled stalk (elephant foot yam), foul-smelling flower.
- Confirm leaf shape: Compound/divided, very large.
- In season, compare flowering and fruiting time: May-June.
- In India, compare location records such as Kerala, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Odisha and nearby regions.
- Confirm it sits within the Araceae family pattern, then compare close relatives before deciding it is Oal.
Plant Details
- Scientific name
- Amorphophallus paeoniifolius
- Genus
- Amorphophallus
- Family
- Araceae
- Habit
- Herb
- Native to
- Madagascar
- Distribution
- India, Sri Lanka, Pacific Islands
- Found in India
- Kerala, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Goa, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand
- Flowering & fruiting
- May-June
- Conservation status
- Not Evaluated (NE)
Leaf characters
- Leaf shape
- Compound/divided, very largerecorded
Typical of the family
- Arrangement
- Basal
Characters marked “recorded” are for Oal itself; the rest are typical of the Araceae family.
Flower & fruit characters
- Inflorescence
- Spike
Typical of the Araceae family — flowering plants only; individual species can differ.
Local Names
- Hindi
- Oal, Gandira, Jangli suran, ओल
- Bengali
- ওলকচু
- Tamil
- anaittantu, boomi sallaraikilangu, camattilai
- Telugu
- daradakandagadda, ghemikanda, kanda
- Kannada
- ಗಂಡೀರ Gandira, ಸುವರ್ಣಗೆಡ್ಡೆ Suvarna gadde, ಸೂರಣ Soorana, ಸುವರ್ಣ ಗೆಡ್ಡೆ
- Malayalam
- cinapavu, karunakarang, kizhanna
- Marathi
- suran, सुरण
About Oal
Elephant foot Yam (Amorphophallus paeoniifolius) is a herb in the Araceae family. In India it has been recorded in Kerala, Maharashtra, Karnataka and 15 other states. Flowering and fruiting run from May to June.
Uses
It is grown for parts that are eaten and long used in traditional medicine. Those medicinal uses are traditional attributions, not medical advice.
Araceae
Arum family
Oal belongs to the Araceae family.
The illustration represents the family — not necessarily this exact species.
Explore the Araceae familySnap it. Know it.
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Common plant problems
If you are starting from symptoms instead of a diagnosis, use the plant disease symptom checker to narrow the cause before treating.
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