Colocasia esculenta (Black Magic, Black Taro, Callaloo, Coco Yam, Dachine, Dalo, Dasheen, Edda, Eddo, Eddoe, Eddy Root, Elephant Ear, Giant Elephant Ear, Green Taro, Kalo, Katchu, Poi, Potato of the Tropics, Purple-Leaf Taro, Taro, Wild Taro)

Overview

Herbaceous plant from old world tropics, with thick tuber (underground stem) containing much starch ; cultivated for food for many centuries.

Interesting Facts

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The species has hundreds of "faces", same plant with a different leaf form. It has been grown as a food crop for at least 10,000 years with evidence found in China it actually preceeded rice.
Taro was brought to Hawaii by early migrating Polynesians as the main food source. They had perhaps 300 varieties taro under cultivation at one time. The leaves of many varieties were also eaten.
Taro must be cooked to destroy the acrid crystals of calcium oxalate found in all parts of the plant.
Taro was so important that it had great influence on the social and individual activities of the community. One obvious ramification of taro cultivation involved water utilization. Such was the importance of taro that it was considered the plant form (kino-lau) of the great god Kane, the giver of life.

Common Names

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Click on the language to view common names.

Common Names in Afrikaans:

Amadoembie

Common Names in Chinese:

Yu, Yu Tou

Common Names in Dutch:

Taro

Common Names in English:

Black Magic, Black Taro, Callaloo, Coco Yam, Cocoyam, Dachine, Dalo, Dasheen, Edda, Eddo, Eddoe, Eddy Root, Elephant Ear, Elephant´s Ear, Elephant´s-Ear, Elephant's Ear, Elephant's-Ear, Giant Elephant Ear, Green Taro, Kalo, Katchu, Madumbe, Malanga, Poi, Potato of the Tropics, Purple-Leaf Taro, Taro, Taro Potato, Wild Taro

Common Names in French:

Colocasie

Common Names in German:

Kolokasie, Yamswurzel

Common Names in India:

Arum

Common Names in Japanese:

Sato Imo

Common Names in Korean:

T´a Ro T´o Ran

Common Names in Malay:

Daun Keladi, Talas (Indonesia)

Common Names in Malaysia:

Daun Keladi

Common Names in Portuguese:

Inhame, Inhame-Branco, Inhame-Da-áfrica, Inhame-Da-Costa, Taioba-De-São-Tomé

Common Names in Spanish:

Alcocaz, Colocasia, Malanga, Tayoba

Common Names in Thai:

Bai Bon, Bon, Bon Chin Dam, Bon Nam, Pheuak, Phuak (Phueak)

Common Names in Vietnamese:

Khoai Môn, Khoai Nc

Common Names in Zulu:

Amadumbe

Description

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Family Araceae

Herbs, perennial , wetland or terrestrial , occasionally emergent or floating, [often epiphytic or climbing ], usually with milky or watery latex, rarely colored . Rhizomes, corms, or stolons present; rhizomes vertical or horizontal, creeping at or near surface , sometimes branched; corms underground, starchy; stolons at or near surface. Stems absent [sometimes aboveground or aerial ]. Cataphylls usually present. Leaves rarely solitary, alternate or clustered; petiole rarely absent, with sheathing base ; blade simple or compound [occasionally perforate ], elliptic to obovate or spatulate , occasionally sagittate-cordate, larger than 1.5 cm; venation parallel or pinnate- or palmate-netted. Inflorescences spadices, each with 3--900 usually tightly grouped, sessile flowers, subtended by spathe ; spathe rarely absent, persistent (sometimes only proximally) or deciduous, variously colored; spadix cylindric or ovoid , various parts occasionally naked or with sterile flowers. Flowers bisexual or unisexual , staminate and pistillate usually on same plants or functionally on different plants, staminate flowers distal to pistillate when unisexual; perianth absent or present; stamens 2--12, distinct or connate in synandria; ovaryies 1, 1--3(--many) -locular, sessile or embedded in spadix; styles 1; stigmas hemispheric , capitate, or discoid [sometimes strongly lobed ]. Fruits berries , distinct or connate at maturity. Seeds 1--40(--many) per berry.

Genera 105, species more than 3300 (8 genera, 10 species in the flora ; species in 10 additional genera may persist locally within flora area, see talbe 203.1) : nearly worldwide, primarily tropical regions .

Araceae are best characterized by the inflorescence, a fleshy cylindric or ovoid, unbranched spadix subtended or surrounded by a spathe. True spathes are absent in the Nearctic genus Orontium and in the Australian genus Gymnostachys. Other plant families with a compressed spadix-like inflorescence, such as Piperaceae and Cyclanthaceae, either do not have a structure equivalent to a spathe (Piperaceae) or have early-deciduous bracts (Cyclanthaceae) . Plants are usually glabrous , rarely pubescent or spiny (pubescent in Pistia) . Many Araceae exhibit typical monocotyledonous parallel leaf venation, but some genera have net leaf venation more typical of dicotyledons.

Infrafamilial classification of the Araceae is under active study. The only classification of the family to date to utilize modern phylogenetic techniques (S. J. Mayo et al. 1997) recognizes seven subfamilies, of which three are represented in native temperate North American aroid flora: Orontioideae (Orontium, Symplocarpus, Lysichiton) ; Calloideae (Calla) ; and Aroideae (Peltandra, Arisaema, and Pistia) . Acorus, a genus historically included in Araceae, is treated as a separate family in theat flora based on extensive morphologic and chemical evidence that supports its removal from Arales (M. H. Grayum 1987) .

The number of genera of Araceae occurring in temperate North America is low in comparison with other continents, and primitive taxa are disproportionately represented. Orontioideae and Calloideae, which include four of the seven native genera found in the flora area, are the basal clades within Araceae. Plants in these subfamilies possess the primitive states for many characteristics in Araceae and share few derived characteristics with other aroid genera (M. H. Grayum 1990) . The more advanced genera native to the flora area include one genus endemic to eastern North America (Peltandra), a pantropical genus with an uncertain native distribution (Pistia), and a genus clearly Eurasian in origin (Arisaema) .

Araceae contain crystals of calcium oxalate , which are often cited as causing the intense irritation experienced when handling or consuming the raw plant tissue of many genera in the family. This supposition is contradicted by the fact that although irritation generally is not produced by properly cooked plants, the crystals remain after heating. Other compounds must therefore be involved with causing this reaction. Studies of Dieffenbachia demonstrated that a proteolytic enzyme , as well as other compounds, are responsible for the severe irritation caused by this plant and that raphides of calcium oxalate do not play a major role (J. Arditti and E. Rodriguez 1982) . Whether irritation is caused by enzymes or crystals, that aspect of Araceae has resulted in aroid genera being included in many lists of poisonous plants (e.g. , K . F. Lampe and M. A. McCann 1985; G. A. Mulligan and D. B . Munro 1990; K. D. Perkins and W. W. Payne 1978) .

Despite the toxic effects of Araceae, species of several genera are cultivated as food plants, mainly as subsistence crops in tropical areas. The major edible Araceae are Colocasia esculenta and several species of Xanthosoma, grown primarily for their corms and sometimes for their leaves. Most North American species of Araceae were historically used by Native Americans, as both food and medicine (T. Plowman 1969) . The family, is currently more valued for its many ornamental species , and is the most important family in North America for indoor foliage plants (T. B. Croat 1994) . Araceae commonly grown as ornamentals in American homes include species of Aglaonema (Chinese-evergreen), Anthurium, Caladium, Dieffenbachia (dumbcane), Epipremnum (golden pothos), Philodendron, Spathiphyllum, Syngonium, and Zantedeschia (calla-lily) .

Plants of some cultivated species of Araceae escape and may persist or naturalize , especially in warmer climates. One of these species, Colocasia esculenta, is widespread enough to warrant full inclusion in the flora, but other introduced species of Araceae are very local in occurrence. Uncommon species represented by herbarium specimens or literature reports as escaped or persisting from cultivation are listed (table 203.1) with distinguishing characteristics and areas of occurrence.Sue A. Thompson "Araceae". in Flora of North America Vol. 22. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org.

Genus Colocasia

Herbs, wetland [or terrestrial ]. Stolons with nodes produced at or near surface ; corms underground [aboveground], tuberous . Leaves appearing before flowers, several, clustered apically, erect ; petiole usually longer than blade ; blade green to dark green or glaucous blue-green adaxially, simple , peltate, ovate- or sagittate-cordate, basal lobes rounded , apex mucronate ; primary lateral veins parallel, secondary lateral veins netted . Inflorescences: peduncle erect, shorter than leaves, apex not swollen; spathe tube green; spathe blade orange, opening basally and reflexing apically at anthesis to expose spadix; spadix slender, tapering, usually terminated by sterile appendage . Flowers unisexual , staminate and pistillate on same plant; pistillate flowers covering base of spadix, staminate flowers apical, sterile flowers between pistillate and staminate flowers; perianth absent. Fruits greenish to whitish or red. Seeds 0--5(--35), mucilage probably present. x = 7.

Species 7 (1 in the flora ) : southeastern Asia, 1 species cultivated and escaping in the tropics and subtropics worldwide.

Species in the genus Colocasia have received little attention except for C. esculenta, commonly called taro, which is cultivated throughout the tropics and subtropics for its starchy, edible corms. The origin of the cultivated species is uncertain, but all other species in the genus occur in northeastern India and southeastern Asia. Prior to modernization, taro was especially important on the Pacific Islands. Hawaii was a main center of taro cultivation, and the crop played an important role in native culture . About 150 varieties of C. esculenta were developed on Hawaii, including ones those specifically grown for poi, a fermented paste made from crushed, cooked corms (A. B . Greenwell 1947) .

Colocasia esculenta was probably brought to the Caribbean and North America from Africa as part of the slave trade. In the southeastern United States, taro was commonly cultivated in the kitchen gardens of slaves and their free descendants (W. Bartram 1791) . In the early 1900s, the U.S. Department of Agriculture attempted a campaign to introduce taro as a new root crop in frost-free zones in the southern United States (O. W. Barrett and O. F. Cook 1910) . Promotional literature, which included cultivation techniques and recipes for use, was distributed to encourage farmers to try this new crop, but taro was never accepted as a substitute for potatoes (R. A. Young 1936) .

Plants of Colocasia esculenta are known by many common names , including taro, cocoyam, dasheen, eddo, malanga, tannia, and others. Many of these same names are also applied to species of Xanthosoma, a New World aroid also cultivated for its starchy corms, which is often confused with Colocasia (see S. K . O'Hair and M. P. Asokan 1986 for a review of edible aroids) . Edible taxa in the two genera can be readily distinguished by the peltate leaves in Colocasia and absence of a sterile tip on the spadix in Xanthosoma.Sue A. Thompson "Colocasia". in Flora of North America Vol. 22. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org.

Physical Description

Species Colocasia esculenta

Corms underground, starchy; stolons elongate , with nodes produced at or near surface , spreading horizontally. Leaves: petiole green, often purple apically, 30--80(--180) cm, spongy and filled with air spaces; blade green to dark green or glaucous blue-green on adaxial surface, usually with red or purple spot at point of petiole attachment, peltate for 2.5--7 cm, 17--70 ´ 10--40 cm; primary lateral veins parallel, secondary lateral veins netted , forming collective vein between primary lateral veins; apex mucronate . Inflorescences: spathe 20--35 cm; tube green; blade orange outside and in, opening basally and reflexing apically at anthesis to expose spadix, more than 3 times longer than tube; spadix 9--15 cm. Flowers: pistillate flowers pea green, interspersed with white pistillodes ; ovaries 1-locular; ovules 36--67; sterile flowers white to pale yellow; staminate flowers and sterile tip pale orange, stamens 3--6, connate . Fruits orange. Seeds 1--1.5 mm, not observed in flora area. 2n = 28, 42 (Old World). [source]

Weedy plants of Colocasia esculenta in the United States are essentially all one morphologic form (usually with long stolons and with a red to purple spot on the adaxially surface of on the leaf opposite the point junction where of the petiole joins the leaf and blade and with long stolons). This taxon has been called C. esculenta var. aquatilis Hasskarl in some treatments (K . A. Wilson 1960). Other forms of C. esculenta are cultivated in the flora area both for food and as ornamentals . The species is extremely variable and many varieties have been recognized taxonomically with little of agreement on the application of names . Because of their weedy status and their infrequent flowering, specimens of C. esculenta are not frequently collected, and the distribution indicated here reflects this deficiency . Plants may occur beyond the boundary outlined on the map, but the species does not become established in areas subjected to cold temperatures . [source]

Flowers: Flower Color: goldyellow-orange

Size/Age/Growth

Size: to 42" tall.

Habitat

Usually forming large colonies along streams , ponds , ditches, canals, and other wet areas; 0--100 m (Ref. 52007).

Typically found at an altitude of 0 to 4,653 meters (0 to 15,266 feet).Mean = 405.380 meters (1,329.987 feet), Standard Deviation = 1,067.060 based on 351 observations. Altitude information for each observation from British Oceanographic Data Centre.

Biology

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Growth

Culture: Space 18-24" apart.

Soil: Minimum pH: 6.1 • Maximum pH: 7.5

Sunlight: Sun Exposure: 3-5 hours full sun recommended.

Moisture: Water Requirements: 0-12" water depth.

Temperature: Cold Hardiness: 8a, 8b, 9a, 9b, 10a, 10b, 11. (map)

Taxonomy

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Domain: Eukaryota () - Whittaker & Margulis,1978
- Kingdom: Plantae () - Haeckel, 1866 - Plants
  - Subkingdom: Viridaeplantae () - Cavalier-Smith, 1981
    - Phylum: Tracheophyta () - Sinnott, 1935 Ex Cavalier-Smith, 1998 - Vascular Plants
      - Subphylum: Euphyllophytina ()
        Infraphylum: Radiatopses () - Kenrick & Crane, 1997
        Class: Liliopsida () - Scopoli, 1760
        Subclass: Aridae () - (Bartl., 1830) Takhtajan, 1997
        Superorder: Aranae () - (Dumortier, 1829) Thorne Ex Reveal, 1992
        Order: Arales () - Dumortier, 1829
        Family: Araceae () - Adans., 1763, Nom. Cons. - Arum Family
        Subfamily: Colocasioideae ()
        Tribe: Colocasieae ()
        Genus: Colocasia () - Schott, in Schott and Endlicher, 1832, nom. cons. - Taro, dasheen [classical Greek name derived from an old Middle Eastern name colcas or culcas]
        Specific epithet: Colocasia - (Linnaeus) Schott - Taro, dasheen [classical Greek name derived from an old Middle Eastern name colcas or culcas]
        Botanical name: - Colocasia esculenta (Linnaeus) Schott

Unambiguous Synonyms

Alocasia dussii Dammer
Alocasia illustris W.Bull
Aron colocasium (L.) St.-Lag.
Arum chinense L.
Arum colocasia L.
Arum colocasioides Desf.
Arum esculentum L.
Arum esculentum Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 2: 965. 1753
Arum lividum Salisb.
Arum nymphaeifolium (Vent.) Roxb.
Arum peltatum Lam.
Caladium acre R.Br.
Caladium colocasia (L.) W.Wight
Caladium colocasioides (Desf.) Brongn.
Caladium esculentum (L.) Vent.
Caladium glycyrrhizum Fraser
Caladium nymphaeaefolium
Caladium violaceum Desf.
Caladium violaceum Engl.
Caladium violaceum hort.,
Calla gaby Blanco
Calla virosa Roxb.
Colocasia acris (R.Br.) Schott
Colocasia aegyptiaca Samp.
Colocasia antiquorum Schott
Colocasia antiquorum forma acuatica Makino
Colocasia antiquorum forma eguimo Makino
Colocasia antiquorum forma oyasetage Makino
Colocasia antiquorum forma purpurea Makino
Colocasia antiquorum forma yamamotoi Makino
Colocasia antiquorum var. acris
Colocasia antiquorum var. aquatilis
Colocasia antiquorum var. esculenta
Colocasia antiquorum var. fontanesii
Colocasia antiquorum var. globulifera
Colocasia antiquorum var. illustris
Colocasia antiquorum var. multifolia Makino
Colocasia antiquorum var. nymphaeifolia
Colocasia antiquorum var. patens Makino
Colocasia antiquorum var. rosea Makino
Colocasia antiquorum var. rupicola Haines
Colocasia antiquorum var. stolonifera Haines
Colocasia antiquorum var. typica
Colocasia colocasia (L.) Huth
Colocasia esculenta forma ebiimo Makino
Colocasia esculenta forma rotundifolia Makino
Colocasia esculenta var. acris
Colocasia esculenta var. antiquorum (Schott) F.T.Hubb. and Rehder
Colocasia esculenta var. aquatilis Hassk.
Colocasia esculenta var. euchlora
Colocasia esculenta var. fontanesii
Colocasia esculenta var. globulifera
Colocasia esculenta var. illustris
Colocasia esculenta var. rupicola (Haines) H.B.Naithani
Colocasia esculenta var. stolonifera (Haines) H.B.Naithani
Colocasia esculenta var. typica
Colocasia euchlora K.Koch and Linden
Colocasia fontanesii Schott
Colocasia gracilis Engl.
Colocasia himalensis Royle
Colocasia neocaledonica Van Houtte
Colocasia nymphaeifolia (Vent.) Kunth
Colocasia peltata (Lam.) Samp.
Colocasia peregrina
Colocasia tonoimo Nakai
Colocasia vera Hassk.
Colocasia violacea (Desf.) auct.
Colocasia virosa (Roxb.) Kunth
Colocasia vulgaris Raf.
Leucocasia esculenta (L.) Nakai
Steudnera virosa (Roxb.) Prain
Zantedeschia virosa (Roxb.) K.Koch

Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name . Latest taxonomic scrutiny: Govaerts R., 11-Nov-2003.

Place of publication : H. Schott and S. L. Endlicher, Melet. bot. 18. 1832

Name verified on 01-Nov-1985 by ARS Systematic Botanists. Last updated: 12-Jul-1999

Similar Species

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Members of the genus Colocasia

There are approximately 84 species in this genus:

Bibliography

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