Re: Edible Alocasias

**&* <m*@hctc.com>**

I know that Alocasia macrorrhizos is/was a food crop in some
Pacific Island nations.  In Hawaii, it was called `ape
(pronounced "ah-pay"); in Pohnpei, they say they no longer
eat eat it, but used to before WWII -- they call it "wild
taro," to distinguish it from the currently cultivated taros
(Colocasia and Cyrtosperma).

Jason Hernandez
Naturalist-at-Large

> Message: 3
> Date: Fri, 27 Feb 2009 15:43:54 -0600
> From: "Carla Kostelac" <Carla.Kostelac@mobot.org>
> Subject: [Aroid-l] Edible Alocasias
> To: <aroid-l@gizmoworks.com>
> Message-ID:
>    
> <471E2B0E09E14643942D99FC6AD54E6601F990FA@MBGMail01.mobot.
> org> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
> 
> Dear Aroiders,
>  
> I received this message from Anne in Western Australia.
> Please read below and see if you can help to answer her
> question about Alocasias.
>  
> Thank you, everyone!
>  
> Best wishes,
> Carla
>  
> Carla V. Kostelac
> Assistant to Tom Croat &
> Research Specialist, Araceae
> Missouri Botanical Garden
> Box 299, St. Louis, Missouri 63116
> (314) 577-5163
> carla.kostelac@mobot.org
> Please send images to our FTP Server.
> ftp://garfile:garden2003@cissus.mobot.org/incoming/croat
> ftp://garfile:garden2003@cissus.mobot.org/outgoing/croat
> 
> 
> 
> Hi Carla,
> 
> How are you? I am from Western Australia and I have
> recently found some Alocasia plants being sold in a
> nursery. I would like to know whether all Alocasia species
> are edible. In my home country, Mauritius, we eat
> Colocasia esculenta and taro.
> 
> How can I know whether the species in the store is edible?
> 
> Thank you very much for any reply. I tried to email Rod,
> but I could not send emails to him.
> 
> -- 
> Anne
> 

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