Lalkand / Hitchhiker Elephant Ear
Remusatia vivipara
- Habit
- Herb
- Found in India
- Karnataka, Maharashtra, Kerala & more
- Flowering
- April-September
How to identify Lalkand
Identify Lalkand 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: Produces small bulbils that hitch onto animals for dispersal.
- Confirm leaf shape: Cordate (heart-shaped).
- Confirm flower colour: White.
- Confirm fruit type: Berry.
- In season, compare flowering and fruiting time: April-September.
- In India, compare location records such as Karnataka, Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and nearby regions.
Plant Details
- Scientific name
- Remusatia vivipara
- Genus
- Remusatia
- Family
- Araceae
- Habit
- Herb
- Habitat
- On Rotting wood and among rocks
- Habitat type
- Rocky
- Distribution
- Africa, Madagascar, Indo-Malesia, Australia
- Found in India
- Karnataka, Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, Sikkim, Uttarakhand
- Flowering & fruiting
- April-September
- Conservation status
- Not Evaluated (NE)
Leaf characters
- Leaf shape
- Cordate (heart-shaped)recorded
Typical of the family
- Arrangement
- Basal
Characters marked “recorded” are for Lalkand itself; the rest are typical of the Araceae family.
Flower & fruit characters
- Flower colour
- Whiterecorded“Spadix is around 3.5 cm long, clavate and creamy white with the flowers unisexual and congested, female at base, male at tip, separated by sterile flowers in the middle.” — Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Fruit type
- BerryrecordedA fleshy fruit with seeds embedded directly in the pulp, no central stone.“Fruits a cluster of berries.” — Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0
Typical of the family
- Inflorescence
- Spike
Characters marked “recorded” are for Lalkand itself; the rest are typical of the Araceae family — flowering plants only.
Local Names
- Hindi
- लालकंद Lalkand
- Nepali
- जलुका Jalukaa, कालो पिँडालु Kaalo Pidaalu, जलुका
- Tamil
- செங்கருணைக் கிழங்கு Cenkarunaik Kilanku
- Kannada
- ಕಾಡು ಗಡ್ಡೆ Kaadu Gadde, ಮರಕೆಸು Marakesu
- Malayalam
- മരച്ചേമ്പ് Marachembu, മരതാള് Marathaalu, മരച്ചേമ്പ്
- Marathi
- लालकंद Lalkand, रुखाळूं Rukhalu
About Lalkand
Hitchhiker Elephant Ear (Remusatia vivipara) belongs to the Araceae family, where it grows as a herb. In India it has been recorded in Karnataka, Maharashtra, Kerala and 9 other states. It grows in on Rotting wood and among rocks. Flowering and fruiting run from April to September.
Araceae
Arum family
Lalkand belongs to the Araceae family.
The illustration represents the family — not necessarily this exact species.
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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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