229 



Upon the outer bark may be seen the scars of former leaves. 

 From these scars the roots commonly emerge. Small roots may 

 be seen in the axils of the leaves still present if these leaves are 

 pulled downward so as to .expose the corm. The roots them- 

 selves are coarse, rather long and string-like, somewhat brittle, and 

 whitish in color. "They contain little of the milky latex which 

 fills most of the other organs of the plant." — Barrett. The roots 

 bear a few branching rootlets. Kalo is not especially deep-rooted. 



Young kafo plants sometimes develop from underground root- 

 like runners sent out from the corm. Plants may also develop 

 directly from the corm by budding. These lateral offspring are 

 called huli aha, or htili pii'ii, and are described under the head of 

 Propagation. 



The corm, which because of its subterranean position is com- 

 monly thought of as a root part, is really a modified stem, as is 

 demonstrated by the leaves which it bears. True roots do not 

 bear leaves. Its swollen shape is due to the fact that it is stuft'ed 

 with starch, which is the food part. Other familiar plants that 

 store up large quantities of starchy or sugary material in their 

 stems are : sago palm, cycads, sugar cane and potatoes. 



This stored food is protected from the attacks of animals by its 

 secure position within the wet soil, by the outer husk or bark, and 

 by the protective layer of minute, needle-like crystals of calcium 

 oxalate. These occur both in the leaves and in tlie outer layer of 

 the corm.* Anyone who has inadvertently eaten kalo that has 

 been insufificiently cooked, can attest to the prolonged and sharp 

 prickling irritation, as though one's mouth and throat were veri- 

 tably "full of needles." 



5. BOTANIC ST.\TUS OF KALO. 



The botanic name for kalo is Colocasia ajtfiquonim var. cscn- 

 lenta Schott. This means that it is a member of the genus Colo- 



* The use of root crops as food by primitive peoples is interestingly de- 

 scribed by O. F. Cook as follows: "The root crops that were domesticatetl 

 in America stand in distinct contrast witlv Old World root crops, both in 

 number and in quality. The species cultivated in the Old World were rela- 

 tively few, mostly the seed-propagated garden vegetal)les of temperat'i 

 regions, such as radishes, turnips, beets, parsnips, carrots, etc. The tem- 

 perate root crops domesticated in the Old World were mostly capable of 

 being eaten raw, as though they had been used first by jjeople unaccustomed 

 to use fire for cooking vegetables. The root crops that were domesticated 

 in America are not eaten raw by the natives. Many of them are disagree- 

 ably acrid in the raw state, like the aroids, or even positively poisonous, like 

 the cassava. Very few new types of plants appear to have been domesti- 

 cated as root crops in the Old World Tropics, and none of them have at- 

 tained the prominence of several of the American species. The banana 

 appears to have been cultivated first as a root crop, and some of the varieties 

 are still cultivated for their root-stock in New Caledonia and in East 

 Africa. ' ' 



