tropical esculent plants to be found in any modern work 

 that has appeared in the British Isles ; nor indeed in the 

 British Empire, except in Wight's Icones, published in the 

 Madras Presidency more than fifty years ago. There are 

 several rude representations of it in works of last century, 

 as that in Rheede's " Hortus Malabaricus," dating 1703, 

 when Malabar was under Dutch rule; in Sloane's 

 " History of Jamaica " (1725) ; in Oatesby's " History of 

 Carolina" (1743), and in Rumphius Herbarium Amboin- 

 ense, 1747. 



Golocasia antiquorum is best known to English-speaking 

 people as the "Kuchoo" of India, the " Tarro " or 

 "Taro" of the Pacific Islands, "Kandalla" of Ceylon, 

 and " Eddoes" of tropical Africa. It is unquestionably a 

 native of India, as is vouched by its Sanscrit name 

 (Kuchoo) as given by Roxburgh, who states that two 

 varieties are cultivated in the neighbourhood of Calcutta, 

 and that three wild forms are found in most parts of India. 

 These varieties are (1) the " Kala (dark) Kuchoo " (Cala- 

 dium aquatile, Rumph., of which the roots never swell, 

 but the leaves and footstalks are eaten by Bengalis. It 

 frequents wet places. (2) " Char Kuchoo " grows in dry 

 ground, dunghills, &c, with dark purple or bluish-black 

 clouds in the disk of the leaf. This is probably the Alo- 

 casia Ulusbm cited above ; and (3) the " Bun Kuchoo " 

 {Caladium vicorum, Rumph.) grows like the last in dry 

 ground, but has uniformly green leaves, and like it is 

 rarely eaten. Besides these there is the " Sar Kuchoo " 

 (Caladium nymphseifolium, RoxK—Rheede, vol. xi. t. 22), 

 which Roxburgh distinguishes as a distinct species, from 

 its larger size, the roots often growing to the thickness of 

 a man's arm, the peduncle, petioles and leaves of a reddish 

 colour, the leaves narrower in proportion, and the short 

 appendix of the spadix. No doubt it is a large aquatic 

 variety of C. antiquorum, and is so regarded by most Indian 

 botanists. It is rarely cultivated in Bengal, but abounds 

 wild in watery places ; every part of it is eaten by the 

 Hindoos. 



According to de Candolle ("Origine des Plantes Culti- 

 vees, p. 59) the Golocasia was first known in Europe 

 through its haying been cultivated in Egypt, though pro- 

 bably comparatively recently, as it does not appear on any 



