Coco yam vs Colonial Pine

Colocasia esculenta compared with Araucaria cunninghamii

Key Differences

• Coco yam is Not Evaluated while Colonial Pine is Least Concern.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Coco yam	Colonial Pine
Kingdom	Animalia (Animals)	Plantae (Plants)
Phylum	Arthropoda (Arthropods)	Coniferophyta (Conifers)
Class	Insecta (Insects)	Pinopsida (Conifers)
Order	Lepidoptera (Butterflies & Moths)	Pinales (Pines & Allies)
Family	Noctuidae	Araucariaceae
Genus	Colocasia	Araucaria
Species	Colocasia esculenta	Araucaria cunninghamii

Conservation Status

Coco yam

NE — Not Evaluated

Colonial Pine

LC — Least Concern

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Coco yam	Colonial Pine
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Coco yam

Habitat

Inhabits flooded grasslands and savannas within the Afrotropic biogeographic realm.

Range

Widely distributed across Africa (30 countries), Asia (6 countries), Europe (9 countries), North America (8 countries), Oceania and the Pacific (8 countries), and South America (6 countries).

Colonial Pine

Habitat

Typically found in temperate and boreal forests, often at higher elevations.

Range

Distributed across Australia, India, Libya, and South Africa.

Coco yam

Coco Yam (Colocasia esculenta), also widely known as Taro, is a pantropical herbaceous plant in the family Araceae, cultivated as a food crop for more than 10,000 years and considered one of humanity's oldest cultivated plants. The species grows from large starchy corms and produces broad, sagittate leaves with distinctive water-repellent surfaces—an adaptation that has earned the plant its association with the lotus effect in traditional culture. Corms, cormels, and young leaves are all edible after thorough cooking, which is essential to neutralise the calcium oxalate crystals that cause intense irritation when raw. Originating in South and Southeast Asia, Colocasia esculenta has been dispersed across tropical Africa, the Pacific Islands, the Caribbean, and the Americas through centuries of agricultural exchange and migration. It thrives in wet or waterlogged soils, being particularly associated with paddy cultivation, irrigation channels, and swampy ground, though drought-tolerant cultivars exist. The species is a dietary staple in Hawaii, where it is the basis of poi; in West Africa, where it is boiled or pounded; and across the Pacific Islands, where it sustains subsistence communities. Given its widespread cultivation and genetic diversity represented across thousands of landraces, IUCN has not formally evaluated its conservation status. The species is not considered at risk.

Colonial Pine

<em>Araucaria cunninghamii</em>, the colonial pine or hoop pine, is a large coniferous tree in the ancient family Araucariaceae, native to Australia and also cultivated or naturalised in India, Libya, and South Africa. This species inhabits temperate and boreal forests at higher elevations, where it often forms a prominent emergent layer in subtropical and tropical rainforest communities in Queensland and New Guinea. Hoop pine is one of Australia's most commercially important softwood timber species, valued for its straight grain, durability, and workability. Trees can grow to considerable heights, with tall trunks characterised by horizontally spreading branch whorls that give the species a distinctive silhouette. <em>Araucaria cunninghamii</em> is assessed as Least Concern by the IUCN. The genus <em>Araucaria</em> has ancient origins, with fossil records extending to the Jurassic period, making it a living relic of Gondwanan flora. Seeds of hoop pine are consumed by birds and other fauna in its native range, contributing to limited seed dispersal. Biological traits of this species remain poorly documented in the scientific literature.

Shared Countries

Both species can be found in 3 countries:

🇦🇺 Australia 🇮🇳 India 🇿🇦 South Africa