Plant · P-036

Taro

Colocasia esculenta

Taro is grown for the corm at its base, a starchy swollen stem rather than a root, sitting beneath a clump of thick-stalked, arrow-shaped leaves that can top six feet. It thrives standing in shallow water and also works as an understory crop, shaded by taller plantings like coconut or coffee rather than shading anything itself. Every part is edible only after cooking - raw corms and leaves are loaded with needle-shaped calcium oxalate crystals that irritate the mouth and skin, and cooking, drying or fermenting is what neutralizes them. It spreads slowly by offshoot corms rather than seed, so a planting thickens in place instead of jumping, though a broken corm can float off downstream in moving water.