History and Lore

A genus of the tropical and subtropical flowering plant family Araceae, Xanthosoma has more than forty species, all native to tropical America. Several species, including malanga (X. sagittifolium), are grown for their starch-bearing roots (corms), making them a valuable food crop of tropical regions. There is a great deal of confusion and mislabeling when it comes to tropical tubers. Taro is the common name for four different root crops grown in tropical areas around the world. They are X. sagittifolium, or American taro, the focus of this chapter; Colocasia esculenta, or true taro; Cyrtosperma chamissonis, or giant swamp taro; and Alocasia macrorrhiza, known as both false taro and giant taro. The first two, the most widely cultivated taro types, are featured in this book (for true taro). The latter two are only rarely cultivated commercially.