\ 
Colocasia. ]} ARACEAE. 455 
with aerial roots, the stem creeping or erect. Leaves entire or divided, 
the veins usually pinnate or reticulate as in Dicotyledons, rarely parallel 
as in most fai ie gina Spadix often bearing barren organs (abortive 
stamens or ovaries) above elow the stamens, or ending in a thickened 
barren portion called the iene 
A large Order, chiefly tropical, eh dispersed also over several more temperate regions 
In cu tiv ation: Richardia gt , Kth., Caladium color: Vent., in several varieties, 
oe deliciosa, Sasha ten others 
pendix smo , * ; ; i Colocasia. 
ad marked with reticulate furrows ‘ : : Alocasia. 
1. COLOCASIA, Schott. 
Spathe convolute, tubular below, the blade finally breaking Tis 
Spadix enclosed in tie spathe, interruptedly androgynous, with o 
v 
at the base, stamens higher up and barren organs in mn tal “te 
sadais ‘Ovaries 1-celle ; stigma capitate, subsessile. Ovules numerous, 
hemitropous or nearly orthotropous, affixed in 2 rows to 3—5 Earn 
placentas. — Herbs with a tuberous root-like or caulescent stock. Leaves 
usually large and glaucous, cordate and sometimes peltate. Tube of spathe 
Laps tonite 1/2—1/5 the length of the blade. 
A genus of 5 species, natives of tropical Asia, but one of them widely spread by 
cultivation 
1, °C, sutsacibiaiel: var. esculenta, Schott, in Synops. Aroid. p. 
perennial herb, 1—1!/2 ft. high, with a tuberous stock. Leaves shin 
cordate and pelkiae the obtuse basal lobes or auricles being shortly 
connate below the insertion of the petiole, about 1 ft. in ae smooth 
velvety above. Spadices several from one axil, shorter than the petioles; 
their spathes yellow, ovate-lanceolate and straight. Appendix acuminate 
smooth, about half as long as the staminate portion. Staminal bodies 
Stipitate. Style of ovaries very short. — Arum Coloca 
lentum, L. & Forst. — Colocasia edeuta: Schott, Melet. — Caladium escu- 
lentum, Vent. — Engler, in De Cand. Mo = Il, 491. 
eneral cultivation and along mountain-sire of the lower regions. Th 0» 
In g 
OK. Taro still affords, as it did of old, the prinepal pe goad of food to he natives ‘of the 
i gree, with the other brane ches of 
nds, as is the case, thoug! 
ce, who all call it by one com peut pwaiians in 
& Considerable number of varieties according t quality of the tuber and the color 
of the leafsialk. It is propagated by the tops of the corms, which readily strike root, 
either under water, or in the higher rain-favored regions i clearings of wood-land; but 
in the latter case ba Jeendispetis need to be mulched at firs ber — in about 
15 months. All of the plant contain an acrid pri rnp, ee perce Bl e 
. Varieties, which is eth ed by cooking. The tuber is eaten boiled o ed, - as «poi» 
: p for many 
months and is sold as «pai ai>. The leaf-stalks, too, form an excellent scat Awe not 
unlike asparagus in taste. 
