Taro, cocoyam, elephant ears, eddo, dasheen

Taro, cocoyam, elephant ears, eddo, dasheen
Colocasia and Alocasia species

Description: All plants in these groups have large leaves, sometimes up to 1.8 meters tall, that grow from a very short stem. The rootstock is thick and fleshy and filled with starch.

Habitat and Distribution: These plants grow in the humid tropics. Look for them in fields and near homesites and villages.

Edible Parts: All parts of the plant are edible when boiled or roasted. When boiling, change the water once to get rid of any poison.

For information on a specific edible or medicinal plant, click on one of the links below:

- Abal   - Acacia   - Agave   - Almond   - Amaranth   - Arctic willow   - Arrowroot   - Asparagus   - Bael fruit   - Bamboo   - Banana and plantain   - Baobab   - Batoko plum   - Bearberry or kinnikinnick   - Beech   - Bignay   - Blackberry, raspberry, and dewberry   - Blueberry and huckleberry   - Breadfruit   - Burdock   - Burl Palm   - Canna lily   - Carob tree   - Cashew nut   - Cattail   - Cereus cactus   - Chestnut   - Chicory   - Chufa   - Coconut   - Common jujube   - Cranberry   - Crowberry   - Cuipo tree   - Dandelion   - Date palm   - Daylily   - Duchesnea or Indian strawberry   - Elderberry   - Fireweed   - Fishtail palm   - Foxtail grass   - Goa bean   - Hackberry   - Hazelnut or wild filbert   - Horseradish tree   - Iceland moss   - Indian potato or Eskimo potato   - Juniper   - Lotus   - Malanga   - Mango   - Manioc   - Marsh marigold   - Mulberry   - Nettle

- Nipa palm   - Oak   - Orach   - Palmetto palm   - Papaya or pawpaw   - Persimmon   - Pincushion cactus   - Pine   - Plantain, broad and narrow leaf   - Pokeweed   - Prickly pear cactus   - Purslane   - Rattan palm   - Reed   - Reindeer moss   - Rock tripe   - Rose apple   - Sago palm   - Sassafras   - Saxaul   - Screw pine   - Sea orach   - Sheep sorrel   - Sorghum   - Spatterdock or yellow water lily   - Sterculia   - Strawberry   - Sugar palm   - Sugarcane   - Sweetsop   - Tamarind   - Taro, cocoyam, elephant ears, eddo, dasheen   - Thistle   - Ti   - Tree fern   - Tropical almond   - Walnut   - Water chestnut   - Water lettuce   - Water lily   - Water plantain   - Wild caper   - Wild crab apple or wild apple   - Wild desert gourd or colocynth   - Wild dock and wild sorrel   - Wild fig   - Wild gourd or luffa sponge   - Wild grape vine   - Wild onion and garlic   - Wild pistachio   - Wild rice   - Wild rose   - Wood sorrel   - Yam   - Yam bean