Family Marantaceae

This perennial tropical plant is cultivated for its starch-rich rhizomes. Not to be confused with the bulbous Chinese arrowhead, arrowroot is cultivated commercially in the West Indies and Latin America. It grows up to 12 inches/30.5 centimeters long and about 1 inch/2.5 centimeters in diameter and is covered with loose scales. Arrowroot is available almost exclusively as an ultrafine powder, which is made by stripping away the scales, beating the flesh to a milky pulp, and then drying the pulp and pulverizing it.