[Aroid-l] The Many Faces of Taro

From: mossytrail at hctc.com (mossytrail) on 2008.01.21 at 05:13:04(16977) I recently visited Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia. I saw some very large, sagittate aroids there, and asked what they were. "Taro," was the reply. Later, I got a fuller explanation. As my native guide and I walked along a roadside, we saw four species, which he explained to me thus: Colocasia esculenta, the green-petioled variety, he called "Tahitian taro;" the purple-petioled form, he did not know the name. Alocasia macrorrhizos, he called "wild taro," saying that in former times, it was used for food, but no longer. Xanthosoma sp., he called "Hawaiian taro." And Cyrtosperma chamissonis, the kind I had originally seen, he called simply "taro," and said it was the local variety. In my several days there, I found that Cyrtosperma was the most widely grown kind, in swampy mountain forests as well as villages. Green-petiole Colocasia was next. The other three were seldom seen. Cyrtosperma seemed to grow equally well in sun or shade, provided the soil was sufficiently muddy. +More Too bad I never had the opportunity to taste that local "taro." Jason Hernandez Naturalist-at-Large

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