JUNK, 1910.] 



495 



Edible Products, 



taro is cultivated in Egypt, but its 

 antiquity in that country was questioned 

 by De Candolle, who also doubted 

 whether " culcas " was really the name 

 of the plant that we now cail Colocasia, 

 1 have recently learned from Mr. A. 

 Aaronsohn that the taro is grown in 

 Palestine and Syria, especially in the 

 vicinity of Beirut, and that the word 

 " culcas " is still in use among the Arabs 

 as the name of the plant. Mr. Aaron- 

 sohn is also inclined to believe that the 

 culture of the taro in Palestine is very 

 old. The culture of the taro in China is 

 considered by all authorities as very 

 ancient. The Chinese residents of Cali- 

 fornia import considerable quantities of 

 taro from Canton and from Hawaii, and 

 are beginning to produce it in California. 

 There is also said to be a growing demand 

 for it among the white population. 

 Whether the- taro also existed in ancient 

 America and thus had a really world- 

 wide distribution in prehistoric times is 

 an interesting question worthy of a 

 careful investigation from the stand- 

 point of ethnology as well as from that 

 of the agricultural study of the varieties. 

 The fact that these cultivated aroids 

 have been so persistently neglected by 

 Europeans lends them an especial in- 

 terest in the study of primitive agri- 

 culture, since we have much greater 

 justification for supposing that their 

 distribution represents the work of 

 primitive man than in the case of plants 

 in which civilised people have been in- 

 terested. The present tendency to give 

 more careful consideration to such plants 

 and to exchange varieties between re- 

 mote parts of the world is likely to 

 disturb the present localisation of 

 varieties and make it even more difficult 

 to learn their source unless careful 

 studies of the varieties accompany the 

 work of introduction. 



There seems to be no record of an in- 

 troduction of the taro into America by 

 Europeans until very lecent times, and 

 yet botanists have reported it as exist- 

 ing in many localities among the natives. 

 The close external similarity of the taro 

 to the yautia renders it very probable 

 that mistakes would be made and pre- 

 vents our placing any complete reliance 

 upon the reports, even of acknowledged 

 authorities, unless we can know the 

 facts on which their identifications were 

 base.i, Thus Seemann, who was an 

 eminent and thoroughly competent 

 botanist, reported the existence of 

 Colocasia in Panama with the native 

 name ot6, while Mr. Barrett reckons 

 the oto as one of the varieties of 

 Xanthosoma. Varieties having leaves 

 with a closed sinus are reckoned 

 as Colocasia, those with a completely 



margined open sinus as Alocasia, those 

 with the margin interrupted in the 

 sinus as Xanthosoma. These leaf charac- 

 ters are certainly very convenient in 

 dealing with these varieties that 

 seldom or never flower, but it has to be 

 admitted that such differences are often 

 found among members of the same 

 genus in other groups of plants. The 

 forms reckoned as Xanthosoma appear 

 to be more different among them- 

 selves than some of them are from 

 varieties placed in Colocasia. Thus the 

 P^lraa yautia is very distinct from the 

 other Porto Rican varieties, Its failure 

 to produce timbers, ready production 

 of flowers and greater similarity to a 

 species that grows wild in Central 

 America indicate a more recent domesti- 

 cation. 



Varieties of aroids with the taro-like 

 leaves are widely distributed among the 

 natives of the West Indies and adja- 

 cent parts of the continent, although 

 not nearly so popular in cultivation as 

 many of the varieties of Xanthosoma. In 

 Porto Rico and Cuba the taro retains the 

 supposedly indigenous name " rnalanga," 

 which would hardly be the case if it 

 had been introduced by the Spaniards. 

 If the natives of the Caribbean region 

 considered it superior to Xanthosoma, 

 it might be thought to have spread 

 amongst them since the discovery, but 

 it is more difficult to understand the 

 wide distribution without popularity, 

 unless we suppose that the taro was 

 formerly more popular than at present 

 and is being displaced by Xanthosoma, 

 If the taro was not already in America 

 before the arrival of Europeans, it seems 

 more likely to have been introduced 

 from Africa than from the Pacific islands. 

 Importers of slaves from Africa found 

 it to their advantage to supply the 

 negroes with their accustomed foods. 

 The African oil palm and the cola nut, 

 as well as certain varieties of sweet 

 potatoes and yams, are supposed to 

 have been established in the West Indies 

 during the period of the slave trade. 

 The name "malanga" itself is similar 

 to many African words. One of the 

 East African names of the taro is 

 " malombo." 



If it be true, as Mr. Barrett seems 

 to think, that Alocasia as well as Colo- 

 casia has numerous American varieties, 

 it becomes reasonable to suppose that 

 the three principal types of cultivated 

 aroids, Xanthosoma, Colocasia, and Alo- 

 casia, were originally domesticated in 

 America, The American nativity of 

 Xanthosoma has not been questioned, 

 but the greater importance of Colo- 

 casia and Alocasia among the Polyne- 

 sians has made it appear that they 



