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Taxon:  Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott



Summary
Genus:
Colocasia
Family:
Araceae
Subfamily:
Aroideae
Tribe:
Colocasieae
Nomen number:
11177
Place of publication:
H. Schott & S. L. Endlicher, Melet. bot. 18. 1832
Verified:
11/01/1985 ARS Systematic Botanists.
Accessions:
0 (0  active, 0  available) in National Plant Germplasm System. 
Other conspecific taxa
Autonyms (not in current use), synonyms and invalid designations
Basionym
Arum esculentum L.

Homotypic Synonym(s)
Caladium esculentum (L.) Vent.
Colocasia antiquorum Schott var. esculenta (L.) Schott

Heterotypic Synonym(s)
Colocasia antiquorum Schott
Colocasia antiquorum Schott var. euchlora (K. Koch & Sello) Schott ex Engl.
No images
Reference(s)
  1. Aldén, B., S. Ryman & M. Hjertson. Våra kulturväxters namn - ursprung och användning. Formas, Stockholm (Handbook on Swedish cultivated and utility plants, their names and origin). 2009 Note:
    • based on Alden, B. & S. Ryman. 2005-: SKUD (Swedish Utility and Cultivated Plants Database)
    • http://www.skud.info
  2. Conservatoire et Jardin botaniques & South African National Biodiversity Institute. African flowering plants database (on-line resource). http://www.ville-ge.ch/musinfo/bd/cjb/africa/recherche.php
  3. Cufodontis, G. Enumeratio plantarum aethiopiae: Spermatophyta. 1953-1972
  4. Dassanayake, M. D. & F. R. Fosberg, eds. 1987. A revised handbook to the flora of Ceylon. 1980- 6:54-55.
  5. Erhardt, W. et al. Der große Zander: Enzyklopädie der Pflanzennamen. 2008
  6. Flach, M. & F. Rumawas, eds. 1996. Plants yielding non-seed carbohydrates. Plant Resources of South-East Asia (PROSEA). 1989- 9:69-72. http://proseanet.org
  7. FNA Editorial Committee. Flora of North America. 1993- http://floranorthamerica.org/
  8. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). 2010. Ecocrop (on-line resource). Note: http://ecocrop.fao.org/ecocrop/srv/en/cropListDetails?code=&relation=beginsWith&name=Colocasia+esculenta&quantity=1
  9. Govaerts, R. & D. G. Frodin. World checklist and bibliography of Araceae (and Acoraceae). 2002 http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/home.do
  10. Groth, D. 2005. pers. comm. Note: re. Brazilian common names
  11. Hill, A. F. 1939. The correct names of certain economic plants. Bot. Mus. Leafl. 7:113-118.
  12. Howard, R. Flora of the lesser Antilles. 1974-1989
  13. Joubert, F. J. 1997. Taro (Colocasia esculenta), an under exploited tuber crop in South Africa. J. S. African Soc. Hort. Sci. 7(2):39-43.
  14. Keay, R. W. J. & F. N. Hepper. Flora of west tropical Africa, ed. 2. 1953-1972
  15. Kingsbury, J. M. Poisonous plants of the United States and Canada. 1964 Note: poisonous
  16. Lampe, K. F. & M. A. McCann. AMA handbook of poisonous and injurious plants. 1985 Note: poisonous
  17. Lazarides, M. & B. Hince. CSIRO Handbook of Economic Plants of Australia. 1993
  18. Liberty Hyde Bailey Hortorium. Hortus third. 1976
  19. Liogier, H. A. & L. F. Martorell. Flora of Puerto Rico and adjacent islands: a systematic synopsis. 1982
  20. Markle, G. M. et al., eds. Food and feed crops of the United States, ed. 2. 1998
  21. McGuffin, M., J. T. Kartesz, A. Y. Leung, & A. O. Tucker. Herbs of commerce, ed. 2. 2000 Note: American Herbal Products Association, Silver Spring, MD
  22. Mun-Chan, B. et al. 1986. A checklist of the Korean cultivated plants. Kulturpflanze 34:92.
  23. Porcher, M. H. et al. Searchable World Wide Web Multilingual Multiscript Plant Name Database (MMPND) (on-line resource). http://www.plantnames.unimelb.edu.au/Sorting/Frontpage.html
  24. Rehm, S. Multilingual dictionary of agronomic plants. 1994
  25. The Missouri Botanical Garden with others. A Catalogue of the vascular plants of Madagascar (on-line resource). http://www.tropicos.org/project/mada
  26. Tutin, T. G. et al., eds. Flora europaea. 1964-1980
  27. Walker, E. Flora of Okinawa and the southern Ryukyu Islands. 1976
  28. Walters, S. M. et al., eds. European garden flora. 1986-
  29. Weber, E. Invasive plant species of the world: a reference guide to environmental weeds. 2003
  30. Westphal, E. & P. C. M. Jansen, eds. 1989. A selection. Plant Resources of South-East Asia (PROSEA). 1989- A:102. http://proseanet.org
  31. Xu, J. C. et al. 2001. Genetic diversity in taro (Colocasia esculenta Schott, Araceae) in China: An ethnobotanical and genetic approach. Econ. Bot. 55:14-31. http://link.springer.com/journal/volumesAndIssues/12231
  32. PROTABASE, the information base of PROTA (Plant Resources of Tropical Africa) (on-line resource). http://www.prota4u.info/
  33. Webster's third new international dictionary. 1961
Common names
English
cocoyam –
dasheen –
eddo –
elephant's-ear –
taro –
French
colocasie –
German
Taro –
Zehrwurzel –
India
arum –
Malay
daun keladi –
Portuguese (Brazil)
inhame –
inhame-branco –
inhame-da-África –
inhame-da-costa –
taioba-de-São-Tomé –
South Africa (Zulu)
madumbe –
Spanish
alcocaz –
colocasia –
malanga –
tayoba –
Swedish
taro –
Transcribed Korean
toran –
Distribution
order_codeStatusContinentSubcontinentCountryStateNote
2Cultivated    widely cult. in tropics
4NaturalizedAfricaMacaronesiaCabo Verde  
4NaturalizedAfricaMacaronesiaPortugalAzores 
4NaturalizedAfricaMacaronesiaPortugalMadeira Islands 
4NaturalizedAfricaMacaronesiaSpainCanary Islands 
4NaturalizedAfricaNorthern AfricaAlgeria  
4NaturalizedAfricaNorthern AfricaLibya  
4NaturalizedAfricaNorthern AfricaMorocco  
4NaturalizedAustralasiaNew ZealandNew Zealand  
4NaturalizedEurope Europe s.
4NaturalizedNorthern America United States s.e.
4NaturalizedSouthern AmericaCaribbeanWest Indies  
6Other    probable origin tropical Asia
Cultivated (widely cult. in tropics)
Naturalized
Africa
  • MACARONESIA: Cabo Verde, Spain [Canary Islands], Portugal [Azores, Madeira Islands]
  • NORTHERN AFRICA: Algeria, Libya, Morocco
Australasia
  • NEW ZEALAND: New Zealand
Europe
  • REGION: Europe (s.)
Northern America
  • REGION: United States (s.e.)
Southern America
  • CARIBBEAN: West Indies
Other (probable origin tropical Asia)
Economic Uses
Animal food
Environmental
agroforestry (fide Econ Bot 55:14-31. 2001) –
Human food
starch (fide Econ Bot 55:14-31. 2001; Invasive Pl Spec) –
Medicines
folklore (fide Herbs Commerce ed2) –
Vertebrate poisons
mammals (fide Lampe & McCann; Kellerman et al., as C. antiquorum; Kingsbury) –
Weed
(fide Invasive Pl Spec) –


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