the elephant foot yam or whitespot giant arum or stink lily, is a tropical tuber crop grown primarily in Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia and the tropical Pacific islands  The plant gives off a putrid smell. The pistillate (female) and staminate (male) flowers are on the same plant and are crowded in cylindrical masses Elephant foot yam is of Southeast Asian origin. It grows in its wild form in India, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, and other Southeast Asian countries. In India this species as a crop is grown mostly in Bihar,  West Bengal,  Kerala,  Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh,  Maharashtra and Orissa. It is popularly known as "oal" ( ol  in Bengali,  suran or jimikand  in Marathi and Hindi,  Chenai kizhangu  in Tamil,  suvarna gedde  in Kannada, chena  in Malayalam,  oluo  in Oriya,  kanda gadda  in Telugu and kaene  in Tulu)  In Tonga, where it is known as teve, it is viewed as the most inferior of all yam species and is only eaten if nothing else is available.