Re: [Aroid-l] Edible Alocasias

From: Peter Boyce <phymatarum at googlemail.com> on 2009.03.01 at 06:50:25(19147) Hi Anne & Carla, The only Alocasia that is (very marginally) edible is Alocasia macrorrhizos and that requiring very considerable preparation to move the formidable battery of chemical and physical properties that it has evolved to prevent herbivory. The Colocasia and Xanthosoma that are widely eaten as carbohydrate and vegetable crops have been selected over a long (sometimes very long) time to reduce the harmful properties that the wild progenitors posses. Peter HTML +More ----- Original Message ----- From: Carla Kostelac To: aroid-l@gizmoworks.com Sent: Saturday, February 28, 2009 5:43 AM Subject: [Aroid-l] Edible Alocasias Dear Aroiders, I received this message from Anne in Western Australia. Please read below and see if you can help to answer her question about Alocasias. Thank you, everyone! Best wishes, Carla Carla V. Kostelac Assistant to Tom Croat & Research Specialist, Araceae Missouri Botanical Garden Box 299, St. Louis, Missouri 63116 (314) 577-5163 carla.kostelac@mobot.org Please send images to our FTP Server. ftp://garfile:garden2003@cissus.mobot.org/incoming/croat ftp://garfile:garden2003@cissus.mobot.org/outgoing/croat Hi Carla, How are you? I am from Western Australia and I have recently found some Alocasia plants being sold in a nursery. I would like to know whether all Alocasia species are edible. In my home country, Mauritius, we eat Colocasia esculenta and taro. How can I know whether the species in the store is edible? Thank you very much for any reply. I tried to email Rod, but I could not send emails to him. -- Anne _______________________________________________ Aroid-L mailing list Aroid-L@www.gizmoworks.com http://www.gizmoworks.com/mailman/listinfo/aroid-l ------=_NextPart_000_002C_01C99A7D.0E238C50----==============55697935230340341=

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