African mask plant vs Caladium

Alocasia × mortfontanensis · Caladium bicolor

Light: Caladium tolerates low light; African mask plant needs medium as a floor. Put the second in the first's spot and it stretches and declines.

Why these two get mixed up

Both are sold as "elephant ear". That is not a nickname problem — a plant labelled elephant ear in a shop could be either of these, and they want different things.

African mask plant (Alocasia × mortfontanensis) — **African mask plant** — Alocasia × mortfontanensis. Photograph by Wiki Farazi, Wikimedia Commons , CC0.

Caladium (Caladium bicolor) — **Caladium** — Caladium bicolor. Photograph by Photo by and (c)2006 Derek Ramsey (Ram-Man), Wikimedia Commons , GFDL 1.2.

	African mask plant	Caladium
Scientific name	Alocasia × mortfontanensis	Caladium bicolor
Family	Araceae	Araceae
Light floor	Medium	Low
Water	5–10 days	4–9 days
Humidity floor	55%	50%
Mature height	18–36 in	12–24 in
Habit	upright	clumping
Growth rate	moderate	fast
Difficulty	Demanding	Demanding
Toxic to pets	Yes	Yes
Typical price	$20–60	$8–25

Highlighted cells are where the two actually differ. Everything else they share.

The differences that matter

Light

Caladium tolerates low light; African mask plant needs medium as a floor. Put the second in the first's spot and it stretches and declines.

Habit

African mask plant grows upright; Caladium grows clumping. That decides where each one physically works.

Which should you buy?

In a dim room, take Caladium.
If you forget to water, take African mask plant, which goes 7 days between drinks.
If it is your first plant, take either — both score 4 of 5.
For a small shelf, take Caladium, which stops around 24 inches.

Full entries

African mask plant — care fields with sources, toxicity with every authority consulted, propagation and diagnosis. Caladium — the same.

Sources

This database's own care records for Alocasia × mortfontanensis and Caladium bicolor — every figure compared above.
Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, Plants of the World Online — accepted names and families for Alocasia × mortfontanensis and Caladium bicolor
ASPCA Animal Poison Control — toxicity classification for both, cited on each species entry
Photographs: Wikimedia Commons, individually credited and licensed above

Compiled and edited by Tony Valcarcel · 2026-09-12
Every comparison above is drawn from a recorded field. Where the honest distinguisher is visual we show both photographs rather than describing a leaf we have no field for. How this is sourced.