Did you know the elephant ear plant is invasive? Well, Home Depot apparently doesn't.

While shopping at a Home Depot location in Casselberry, Florida, a Redditor captured a photo of the bulbs for sale.

Elephant ear stands out for its large heart-shaped leaves attached to tubers. While edible when cooked, it isn't worth planting unless you want to choke out your native vegetation. Elephant ear can grow up to 9 feet tall and 6 feet long. Thanks to rhizomes that extend from bulbs, it can spread quickly. If you want a similar-looking plant that's noninvasive, consider the broadleaf arrowhead (duck potato) instead.

Be careful when attempting manual removal. You can dig up the bulblike tubers, but remember that the leaves contain oxalic acid that can irritate the skin, so wear gloves. It may take several inches of digging to reach all the tubers. Any little bit left behind can quickly propagate more of the invasive plant. 

Afterward, you can replace the soil and begin rewilding the area. As you find native plants, particularly deep-rooted ground cover such as wild ginger or cloves, you can help smooth out more potential invasion.

Unfortunately, finding invasive plants at big-box stores isn't an anomaly. In 2015, a petition went around for Home Depot to stop selling invasive plants. If you ever see kudzu, Japanese knotweed, water hyacinth, or paper mulberry in a store, don't buy it. 

Do your due diligence and check online resources such as extensions at local universities or the Xerces Society to see if a plant that you're interested in is invasive before buying it from a big-box store. You can also go to native nurseries.

One commenter stated: "Box stores sell countless invasive plants. Mexican Petunias and bamboo are awful too."

Someone else noted: "I think the best thing [to] do now is educate people not to buy and plant them. If people don't buy them, Home Depot won't stock them."

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At least humor wasn't lost.

Someone quipped, "I prefer the cinnamon sugar kind." Another person said, "I prefer bear claws to elephant ears."

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