Taro

From WikiMD.org
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Taro

Taro (/ˈtɑːroʊ, ˈtæroʊ/; scientific name: Colocasia esculenta) is a plant species in the family Araceae. It is native to Southeast Asia and Southern India, but is widely cultivated and naturalized elsewhere.

Etymology

The word "taro" is believed to be derived from the Tamil word தரொ (taro), which means "a kind of yam". The scientific name Colocasia esculenta comes from the Greek kolokasion, which was the name given by Dioscorides to the edible roots of both Colocasia esculenta and Nelumbo nucifera.

Description

Taro is a perennial, tropical plant primarily grown as a root vegetable for its edible starchy corm, and as a leaf vegetable. It is a food staple in African, Oceanic and South Asian cultures.

Related Terms

  • Corm: The bulbous, underground stem from which the taro plant grows.
  • Araceae: The botanical family to which the taro plant belongs.
  • Colocasia: The genus of flowering plants in the family Araceae, native to southeastern Asia and the Indian subcontinent. Some species are widely cultivated and naturalized in other tropical and subtropical regions.
  • Dioscorides: A Greek physician, pharmacologist, botanist, and author of De Materia Medica—a 5-volume Greek encyclopedia about herbal medicine and related medicinal substances, that was widely read for more than 1,500 years.

See Also

External links

Esculaap.svg

This WikiMD dictionary article is a stub. You can help make it a full article.


Languages: - East Asian 中文, 日本, 한국어, South Asian हिन्दी, Urdu, বাংলা, తెలుగు, தமிழ், ಕನ್ನಡ,
Southeast Asian Indonesian, Vietnamese, Thai, မြန်မာဘာသာ, European español, Deutsch, français, русский, português do Brasil, Italian, polski