Taro

Colocasia esculenta is a tropical plant grown primarily for its edible corms, a root vegetable most commonly known as taro (/ˈtɑːroʊ, ˈtæroʊ/), kalo, dasheen or godere (see §Names and etymology for an extensive list).[citation needed] It is the most widely cultivated species of several plants in the family Araceae that are used as vegetables for their corms, leaves, and petioles. Taro corms are a food staple in African, Oceanic, and South Asian cultures (similar to yams), and taro is believed to have been one of the earliest cultivated plants.

The English term taro was borrowed from the Māori language of New Zealand when Captain Cook first observed plantations of Colocasia tubers there in 1769. The form taro or talo is widespread among Polynesian languages:[4] taro in Tahitian; talo in Samoan; kalo in Hawaiian; taʻo in Marquesan. All these forms originate from Proto-Polynesian *talo,[4] which itself descended from Proto-Oceanic *talos (cf. dalo in Fijian) and Proto-Austronesian *tales (cf. tales in Javanese). However, irregularity in sound correspondences among the cognate forms in Austronesian suggests that the term may have been borrowed from an Austroasiatic language perhaps somewhere in Borneo and spread from there (cf. proto-Mon-Khmer *t2rawʔ, Khasi shriew, Khmu sroʔ).[5]

Colocasia esculenta has other names in different languages.

In the Philippines, the plant is known as gabi in Tagalog, aba in the Ilocos Region, and natong and apay in the Bicol Region.[citation needed] In India, it is called arvī (अरबी) in Hindi, kesave (ಕೇಸವೆ) in Kannada, alu (आळू) in Marathi, chempu (சேம்பு) in Tamil, chama (చామ) in Telugu, yendem (ꯌꯦꯟꯗꯦꯝ) in Meitei, venti (वेंटी) in Konkani, chēmbŭ (ചേമ്പ്) in Malayalam, and kochu (কচু) in Bangla.[6] It is 芋 (yu) or 芋頭 (yu tou) in Chinese; 芋 (POJ: ō͘) or 芋頭 (ō͘-á) in Taiwanese Hokkien;[7] and vasa in Paiwan,[8] and tali in Amis.[9][10]

Names in African languages include jimbi in Swahili,[11] amadumbe or madumbi in some languages of South Africa,[clarification needed] kontomire in Ghana, kókó and lámbó in Yoruba,[citation needed] and amateke in Kinyarwanda.[citation needed] In Madagascar, it is known as saonjo. It is dasheen in Trinidad and Tobago, Saint Lucia and Jamaica.[12]:23

In Portuguese, it is known as taro, inhame-coco, inhame, taioba, taiova, taioba-de-são-tomé, matabala or inhame[13][14] and in Spanish it is called malanga.[15][16] In the Sinhala language of Sri Lanka it is called “Kiri Ala” (කිරිඅල), but malanga is a different species.[17]

The Ancient Greek word κολοκάσιον (kolokasion, lit. ‘lotus root’) is the origin of the Modern Greek word kolokasi (κολοκάσι), the word kolokas in both Greek and Turkish, and kolkas (قلقاس) in Arabic. It was borrowed in Latin as colocasia, hence the genus name Colocasia.[18][19]

Taro is among the most widely grown species in the group of tropical perennial plants that are referred to as “elephant ears” when grown as ornamental plants.[20]