[Aroid-l] The Many Faces of Taro

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

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