Remusatia vivipara

Remusatia vivipara , also known as "hitchhiker's ear," is one of the Araceae with the widest distribution. It occurs throughout Southeast Asia, northern Australia, Madagascar, and tropical Africa. This extremely wide distribution, as well as its unusual name, is due to its extraordinary dispersal strategy. It produces stolons that curl upwards from the ground, bearing numerous tiny tubers . These tubers are equipped with barbs and detach at the slightest touch. Animals passing by these stolons carry the tubers in their fur or feathers for hundreds of kilometers. It thus spreads in a manner similar to burrs.

The plant itself resembles a common elephant's ear ( Colocasia esculenta ). It doesn't grow quite as large, with leaves reaching "only" about 1 meter in length and a height of 80 to 150 cm. Unlike the common elephant's ear, it doesn't grow exclusively in particularly damp areas or even in water. In nature, it is most often found as an epiphyte, but sometimes also terrestrially. Similar to the elephant's ear, Remusatia also undergoes a period of winter dormancy, during which it retreats into its underground tuber. Its flowers are yellow and appear in spring before the leaves.

These are the overwintering tubers for sale here, not the tiny propagating tubers!