PAE ie 
TAROS AND YAUTIAS tk 
usually only two or three lateral tubers large enough for table use, 
and these are odd shaped. 
The lateral tubers generally are very small and slender and useful 
only for planting. The corms therefore constitute practically the 
entire edible crop. The plant is fairly large (Pl. [X, fig. 1), in rich 
soil reaching a height of 5 to 6 feet. Like related varieties and spe- 
cies, the plant has a great number of fibrous feeding roots (Pl. IX, 
fig. 2) which, unless they are allowed at first to dry out, are difficult to 
remove from the corms and tubers when the crop is harvested. The 
yield is smaller than that of dasheens of the Trinidad type, and the 
cost of production is therefore greater. An exceptionally large hill, 
in which a number of secondary corms have developed from lateral 
tubers, is shown in Figure 6. 
Fig. 6.—A large hill of the Penang taro, with the leaves and part of the fibrous roots 
and soil removed. The central corm in this hill weighed 5 pounds, and eight large 
tubers (secondary corms) weighed 5 pounds; there were 4 pounds of tubers too 
small for table use but mostly serviceable for planting. This yield, obtained in 
very rich soil, is much greater than the average. (P19301F'S.) 
The Penang is the only variety of its type that so far has proved 
of value in this country. The first introduction was from Canton, 
China, through the courtesy of Prof. G. Weidman Groff, of the Can- 
Penang is the name which accompanied an introduction of the tubers from Kaying, 
China. The original introduction was received under the romanized name Pat-long-fu (fu 
being the common name for which we use the Polynesian word ‘“‘taro’’). Other roman- 
ized names received are: Paan.long heung woo, Pan long u, and Banlung. Q. K. Chen, a 
Chinese student formerly connected with the Bureau of Plant Industry, gave the roman- 
ization of the Chinese characters as Pin nang hsiang ku, in which Pin nang—betel nut, 
hsiang= fragrant, and kuw—core or tender stalk of a water grass. Another Chinese stu- 
dent thought that the slight resemblance in shape and fibrous covering of the corm of 
this taro to those of the fruit of the betel-nut palm (Areca catechu) might have given 
rise to the varietal name, and this view seems plausible. However, Prof. G. Weidman 
Groff, of Canton, feels sure that at present there is no thought of the betel nut in con- 
nection with the taro in the minds of the Cantonese who use the name. The selection of 
Penang from among the forms of the name mentioned, as the American name for this 
interesting taro, was made for its simplicity and because its use is already familiar to 
many persons as a geographic term. 
