Taro, Dasheen

Also Tannia, Eddo, Eddoes, Malanga, Tannier, Malanga Isleña, Coco, Sato Imo, Woo Tan, Hung Nga Woo Tan (Red-budded Taro)

The extraordinary number of similar varieties of this plant and related Xanthosoma species (see Malanga) make generalizations and classification a nightmare. As Alex Hawkes wrote, somewhat desperately for an otherwise methodical and lucid botanist: “Taro is a sort of all-encompassing term for a small yet diverse, botanically confused group of primarily tropical plants with edible tubers and, in some instances, foliage” (A World of Vegetable Cookery, Simon & Schuster, 1985). But, since man has been collecting names for about a thousand types of this vegetable for three times that number of years (and probably nine times, judging from recent evidence in Papua New Guinea), it is not surprising that there is little common usage.