malanga (or yautia, or tannia), the names used respectively in Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the English-speaking W. Indies for plants of the genus Xanthosoma, which provide edible corms and leaves. The third name is a corruption of the original Carib name taia. These plants belong to the arum lily family, as does the better-known tropical root crop taro. But taro and other members of the species are native to the Old World, while malanga comes from the W. Indies and the adjoining region of tropical America.
