ARACEAE 



131 



an erroneous disposition of it. The figure has been referred to 

 various species — by Linnaeus, through error, to Arum sagitti- 

 folium Linn., in Stickman Herb. Amb. (1753) 22, Amoen. Acad. 

 4 (1759) 131, Syst. ed. 10 (1759) 1251; by Schott, Prodr. (1860) 

 144, to Alocasia indica Schott; and by Miquel, Fl. Ind. Bat. 3 

 (1857) 207, with doubt to Alocasia longiloba Miq. Alocasia 

 indica Schott is a species of uncertain status; and, as generally 

 interpreted, the specific name is probably invalid. It is supposed 

 to be Arum indicum Roxb., Fl. Ind. ed. 2, 3 (1832) 498, non Arum 

 indicum Lour., Fl. Cochinch. (1790) 536, but the specific name 

 should go with Loureiro's species, which is supposed to be Colo- 

 casia indica. I have not seen Schott's original publication of 

 Alocasia indica. At any rate, the plant figured by Rumphius 

 as Arum silvestre has little in common with the one described by 

 Roxburgh as Arum indicum or with the one described by Loureiro 

 under the same name. 



COLOCASIA Schott 



COLOCASIA ESCULENTA (Linn.) Schott Melet. 1 (1832) 18. 

 Arum esculentum Linn. Sp. PI. (1753) 965. 

 Arum colocasia Linn. Sp. PI. (1753) 965. 

 Colocasia antiquorum Schott Melet. 1 (1832) 18. 

 Arum aegyptium Rumph. Herb. Amb. 5: 313, t. 109. 

 Caladium aquatile Rumph. Herb. Amb. 5: 318, t. 110, f. 1. 



Taro is not represented in our Amboina collections, although 

 doubtless the plant, in several forms, is still cultivated in Am- 

 boina as in all parts of the Indo-Malayan region. Like many 

 widely cultivated plants, the species is enormously variable ; and, 

 being poorly represented in herbaria, no satisfactory arrange- 

 ment of the numerous forms and varieties has been proposed, nor 

 is any attempted arrangement of these likely to prove satisfactory 

 unless based on a comprehensive collection of living plants. Lin- 

 naeus originally reduced Arum aegyptium Rumph. to Arum colo- 

 casia Linn., and Caladium aquatile Rumph. to Arum esculentum 

 Linn., in Stickman Herb. Amb. (1754) 22, Amoen. Acad. 4 

 (1759) 131, Syst. ed. 10 (1759) 1251, and by later authors both 

 have been referred to the above names and to numerous other 

 synonyms of the species. What is apparently the oldest valid 

 specific name for the collective species is here adopted. Various 

 names involved in the reduction of the forms figured and de- 

 scribed by Rumphius are Arum peltatum Lam., Colocasia vera 

 Hassk., various proposed varieties of Colocasia antiquorum 

 Schott, Caladium esculentum Vent., Caladium nymphaei folium 

 Willd., and Caladium esculentum var. aquatilis Hassk. Under 



