DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE. 207 
as long as that of the neutral staminodes, male inflorescence longer. Like the sweet 
potato, ginger, and many other plants propagated by cuttings or suckers for the sake 
of their roots, the taro seldom flowers. 
In one variety growing in wet places many suckers are sent out from the base of 
the stem, and the leayes and petioles are more or less purple; in another variety, 
growing in the eiénaga, or swamps, the petioles are green; in a third they are red- 
dish. The favorite variety, planted in newly cleared land and on_ hillsides, has a 
purplish area at the junction of the petiole with the blade. It is called ‘‘suni Visaya.”’ 
The natives recognize at least eight varieties of suni. The large-leafed, coarser, cau- 
lescent plants called ‘‘piga’’ are varieties of Alocasia, a genus which is distinguished 
from Caladium in having the terminal appendage of the spadix marked with reticulate 
furrows, and having few and basal ovules, while those of Caladium are many and 
parietal. 
Suni was one of the principal food staples of the aboriginal inhabitants of Guam. 
Not only are the farinaceous tuberous rootstocks eaten, but also the young, tender 
leaves, which, when cooked, taste somewhat like asparagus. All parts, but especially 
the leaves, are extremely acrid, owing to the presence of sharp needle-like crystals 
of oxalate of calcium, called raphides (see Pls. XT, NII, and XIIT), and to destroy 
this quality both leaves and rootstock must be thoroughly cooked. 
When the crop of taro is gathered the tops of the rootstocks are cut off and 
replanted at once. They quickly take root and mature in about a year. Taro is 
cooked in various ways in Guam, but is never made into poi (fermented paste) as in 
Hawaii. Land taro, together with bananas and plantains, is the first thing to be 
planted in newly cleared ground, The climate of Guam seems to be admirably 
suited to its cultivation. Taro is a food staple in all island groups in the Pacific and 
in many other parts of the tropical world. In Samoa many savory dishes are pre- 
pared with both the rootstock and the young leaves of taro combined with the rich, 
creamy juice expressed from grated kernels of ripe coconuts, as well as with other 
ingredients. 
The roots are characterized by a high percentage of carbohydrates, of which starch 
is the most important, and by a low percentage of fat, protein, and crude fiber. 
They have the consistency of a sweet potato, and a microscopical examination shows 
that the starch of which they are principally composed is in the form of very small 
grains. The crude protein of an albuminoid nature is in somewhat greater propor- 
tion than that found in the potato. Though offering no especial advantage over 
other farinaceous roots, taro ix a very good substitute for them, and Europeans living 
in the Tropics soon acquire a taste for it, though at first it strikes them as insipid. 
In Hawaii taro prepared in the form of poi is very popular with the white residents. 
Taro is imported into the United States from Canton and the Hawaiian Islands, and 
is sold in large quantities in the Chinese markets of San Francisco, It is successfully 
grown in southern California, but it there requires an abundant artificial supply of 
water, The Florida Experiment Station has also succeeded in growing it, and reports 
satisfactory results.? In tropical countries where potatoes can not be grown and where 
the cultivation of yams is attended with care and labor, taro in its various forms isa 
great blessing to the inhabitants. It grows almost spontaneously both in swamps 
and on dry land, and it yields an abundance of wholesome, nutritious food, which, 
with the occasional addition of meat, legumes, or other nitrogenous foods to supply 
protein, is quite sufficient to sustain life. 
It is interesting to note that the Guam name of this plant reappears in Madagascar 
«For full account see p. 69, above. 
bSee Blasdale, Chinese vegetable food materials, Bull. No. 68, U.S. Dept. Agr., 
Off. Exper. Stations, pp. 13 to 15, 1899. Also, Florida Exper. Station Report, 1896, 
p. 9. 
