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

From: lbmkjm at yahoo.com (brian lee) on 2008.01.21 at 16:43:04(16979) Dear Jason. Aloha. From your Aroidiana article, I know you've been at large in Hawaii. Were you studying naturalized aroids in Pohnpei? Were you able to learn details about the indigenous use of the various taro in Micronesia? How they prepare and cook the various forms, etc? Do the native Pohnpei people consider their plants sacred as in Hawaii? Now were you able to see ruins of Nan Madol? I would be interested to know if there are any agricultural evidence associated with the archaeological site....especially Cyrtosperma. Did you witness any evidence that Cyrtosperma endures brackish conditions? How about Metroxylon amicarum, the Caroline Ivory Nut Palm? Did you see any evidence of cutural associations with this species and are the native people currently utilizing any parts ethnobotanically? Aloha, Leland +More --- mossytrail wrote: > 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. > > Too bad I never had the opportunity to taste that > local > "taro." > > Jason Hernandez > Naturalist-at-Large > _______________________________________________ > Aroid-L mailing list > Aroid-L at www.gizmoworks.com > http://www.gizmoworks.com/mailman/listinfo/aroid-l > ____________________________________________________________________________________ Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search. http://tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearch/category.php?category=shopping

From: abri1973 at wp.pl (Marek Argent) on 2008.01.22 at 03:08:20(16982) Hello Jason, So here it's me again with this controversive stamp from Micronesia, recently when I sent this to Aroid-L, it was identified as Colocasia esculenta, according to the book by Deni Bown where she wrote that in the Oceania C. esculenta has not peltate leaves. Now you put me in a different light explaining that the plant can be a species of Cyrtosperma. I haven't seen C. chamissonis, so I can't tell which of the plant is there on the stamp. Could you please help me, it's very important to me. Regards Marek Argent +More www.araceum.prv.pl ----- Original Message ----- From: "mossytrail" To: Sent: Monday, January 21, 2008 6:13 AM Subject: [Aroid-l] The Many Faces of Taro >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. > > Too bad I never had the opportunity to taste that local > "taro." > > Jason Hernandez > Naturalist-at-Large > _______________________________________________ > Aroid-L mailing list > Aroid-L at www.gizmoworks.com > http://www.gizmoworks.com/mailman/listinfo/aroid-l > > > __________ NOD32 Informacje 2810 (20080121) __________ > > Wiadomosc zostala sprawdzona przez System Antywirusowy NOD32 > http://www.nod32.com lub http://www.nod32.pl > > -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: taro-micronesia.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 183470 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.gizmoworks.com/mailman/private/aroid-l/attachments/20080122/83aaf56e/attachment-0001.jpg

From: mossytrail at hctc.com (mossytrail) on 2008.01.23 at 02:31:59(16986) > Aloha. From your Aroidiana article, I know you've > been at large in Hawaii. Were you studying > naturalized aroids in Pohnpei? > I was only there four days, on vacation, so I didn't get much studying in. But I think all the aroids there are naturalized. +More > Now were you able to see ruins of Nan Madol? Nan Madol is de rigeur when visiting Pohnpei. Of course I saw them. The temple fortress, Nan Dowas, is the best preserved and most accessible part. Breadfruit and noni both grow on the site. Most of the rest of the complex is overgrown with mangroves. > How about Metroxylon amicarum, the Caroline Ivory Nut > Palm? Did you see any evidence of cutural > associations with this species and are the native > people currently utilizing any parts ethnobotanically? > That depends on what you mean by ethnobotanically. If the definition includes carving souvenir pendants for the tourist trade, then yes. Bear in mind the person who drew the illustration on > the stamp OBVIOUSLY was not a taxonomist! It can certainly be a challenge to identify species in non-scientific illustrations. >Jason, what > a great pity that you were not able to sample eating the > corms of Cyrtosperma merkusii! The word you can find on > the edibility/taste of this plant in the literature are in > general not very flattering, BUT---I had a friend in Asia > who cultivated this plant in quantity around a pond, and > he told me that in flavor and texture he prefered it to > Colocasia!! I do hope that you came away with at least > some good photos of Cyrtosperma plants which you can share > with us?? > When my pictures come back, I will see if they are good. If so, I will have to scan them in order to share them -- that's right, I'm still in the Late Bronze Age when it comes to photography; haven't switched over to digital yet. And thank you for the updated nomenclature; I was using a reprint of Glassman (1952), _Flora of Ponape_. Jason Hernandez Naturalist-at-Large

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