TAROS AND YAUTIAS 5 
cient merit in the Southern States to warrant mention at this time 
will be considered under the heads of the species to which they 
belong. 
IMPORTANT SPECIES. 
Colocasia antiquorum Schott.® 
DESCRIPTION OF THE PLANT. 
This species, which has but few distinct varieties so far as the 
writer’s investigations have revealed, might be called the red taro. 
A word meaning “red” is used in the name of this taro in Madeira 
and in at least one locality where grown in China. The skin of the 
corms and tubers, when the leaves are first removed, is a beautiful 
deep pink or reddish color; the flesh immediately beneath the skin 
often is tinged with pink; the young sprouts and the fibrous feeding 
roots also are pink. 
The name “ Egyptian taro” also might appropriately be used for 
Colocasia antiquorum, as it has been grown in Egypt since before: 
the time of Pliny (23-79 A. D.), who makes mention of it under the 
name “ colocasia”’ as one of the established food plants of the coun-: 
try. It is still a crop of considerable importance there, especially 
among the peasants, under the name “ qolqas,” or “ culeas.” The 
species is cultivated either for food or for its decorative value in 
most, if not all, of the regions where other taros are grown. The 
common elephant-ear (often called Caladium esculentum) is a. 
variety of it but is seldom eaten. 
The corms of all varieties are rough and frequently uneven in 
shape, and the lateral tubers are mostly too irregular and small for 
satisfactory table use (Pl. IV). With the exception of a Chinese. 
variety (S. P. I. No. 45777) mentioned on a later page, the forms: 
tested by the Department of Agriculture are usually of inferior 
quality. . 
The most evident distinguishing characteristics of the inflorescence 
of Colocasia antiquorum are the wide-opening limb of the spathe 
(Pl. I, fig. 1) and the very long sterile appendage (PI. I, fig. 1). 
This appendage in all the varieties of C. antiquorum in the collec- 
tion grown by the department is approximately one-half longer than 
the staminate portion of the spadix. The leaves are larger and the 
plants wider spreading (PI. I, fig. 1) than in other species of Col- 
ocasia, and the blades form a sharper angle with the petiole (Pl. I, 
fig. 2). The leaves are of a more yellowish green than those of 
most other taros. In rich moist soil they often reach a height of 6 or 
7 feet. 
VARIETIES. 
Blue tanyah.—The species of the red, or Egyptian, taro is repre-. 
sented in this country by the “blue tanyah” (fig. 9, A and PI. V, fig. 
1) of the coast regions of the Southeastern States, as well as by the 
elephant-ear. The blue tanyah is the larger and less acrid of the 
two taros which have been grown locally in the South for food, to a 
slight extent, for at least two centuries. : 
6 Some doubt has been cast upon the validity of the generic name Colocasia, but as the 
question is somewhat involved it will not be discussed here. At present Colocasia is gen- 
erally accepted by botanists. 
