At one stage, I had confused this aroid with Alocasia macrorrhizos, a much larger aroid in its matured form. Both aroids exist in the same habitat, sometimes growing side by side (see picture below). Although Alocasia macrorrhizos tend to flower and fruit a lot, I had not seen a flowering Colocasia esculenta in the wild until several years later. Flowering seemed to take place when it is cultivated in drier land. As soon as I saw its flower stalk, the distinction was quite clear compared to that of Alocasia macrorrhizos.

While examining a cultivated specimen in August 2014, I saw a large congregation of Oriental Fruit Fly (Bactrocera dorsalis) gathering on the cover (bract) of the erected slender yet-to-bloom flower spike (spadix). The fruit fly appeared to return when new flower stalks appeared. A few weeks later, the flower stalk withered immaturely, which led me to suspect that the fruit flies had something to do this outcome.