THE AMERICAN BOTANIST ill 



Taliauku, had brought a fonuidahle flood of salt water, sand, 

 l)oats. wreckage, etc.. hut apjjarentlv (Hd small damage to 

 the taro. which 1 found waxing pleasantly in the shallows. 



A distinction between this species and the dashcen migiit 

 He in the fact that the latter ])roduces cormels in cultivation, 

 which 1 do not think is true of taro. It is mealv and pleas- 

 ant-flavored, and tastes like waxy potatoes, with a sugges- 

 tion of chestnut, just the same as dasheen. There is, how- 

 ever, at least in the wild specimens, a distinct acrid taste in 

 both roots and leaves, which must be boiled out of them, — 

 unlike the dasheen. which }()U nuist not boil too Knig. 



My method oi preparing wild taro was to wash off as 

 much of the clinging muck as possible, peel off the rest of 

 it and the skin witJi its adhering fibrous rootlets in one oper- 

 ation, and then boil the resultant tubers, sliced to potato size, 

 until the water boiled out. when I would refill, repeating this 

 operation twice ; after which the taro would come out black- 

 ish and very palatable, and especially fine eaten with ripe 

 Iiananas and tlie milk expressed from coconut gratings. 



A third kind of taro is cultivated by the natives of the 

 northeasterly, or wilder, bridgeless side of Tahiti, and called 

 faraii, or perhaps apnra. The close resemblance of its leaf 

 to our caladium leaf is remarkable. It is deemed a varietv 

 of Colcrasia antiqiiorutu, which species also includes Egvi)- 

 tian taro and the blue tania of our southern Atlantic Coast 

 legion. Tliis taro. in my opinion, is not so handsome as the 

 taro 1 ha\e just described. The natives find it very good for 

 food. A fourth species I stumbled upon by accident in a 

 swamp. It had somewhat thorn}- stems, and was probablv 

 not used fi ir foi kI. 



