Taro (coloscia esculenta) patches were found along the streams of Kaelepulu Pond. The leaves are heart shaped and point towards the ground. The leaves can grow up to two feet long and four feet tall. The taro is made up of five main parts: the flower that comes in small spikes, the huli or the stem, the `oha or the little shoot growing from the corm, the pua or the flower, and the corm or the root . Fifty percent of the taro is starch.

The taro has many uses. As a medicine it is used for soothing upset stomachs, insect bites, as poultice (substance to heal sores) for wounds, and infections. As a food the corm was mashed with a rock and was boiled and used as vegetables. Its primary use is for poi, an important staple of ancient Hawaiians.

Taro can be found in rich, well-drained soil. Wetland taro can be found in a lo'i, which is an artificial marsh, or paddy, and dry land taro can be found in the moist uplands. However, all taro must be near moist soil or a body of water.