Growing
- Forest layer: Herbaceous, tall.
- Growth habit & lifespan: Fast-growing perennial, spreads via a thick rhizome, forms expanding clumps.
- Size: 1.5-3m.
- Site preference: Full sun to part shade, wide soil tolerance, tolerates damp ground.
- Water needs / drought tolerance: Moderate to high, tolerates wet feet.
- Fruiting / flowering season: Red-orange canna-type flowers.
- Propagation: Rhizome division.
- Harvesting technique: The starchy rhizome, traditionally processed into arrowroot starch; the large leaves are useful as mulch, fodder, or wrapping.
Permaculture Function
- Permaculture functions: A genuinely useful biomass producer, historically grown as a staple starch crop and stock fodder in Queensland, with large leaves that make excellent chop-and-drop mulch.
- Wildlife value: Minor.
- Edibility / medicinal use: Yes, the rhizome — though it requires processing (traditionally grated and washed to extract starch) rather than eating raw.
- Companion notes: Useful as a fast-growing biomass and mulch producer at the edge of a food forest block.
Safety & Control
- Toxicity: Not toxic.
- Control method: Not a removal target, but manage spread — divide and thin the clump periodically if it's encroaching on planned growing space, since the rhizome will keep expanding the footprint if left alone.