[Aroid-l] Edible Xanthosoma sp. in the Guianas.

**&* B* <j*@msn.com>**

>From : 	George Yao <gcyao@mydestiny.net>
Reply-To : 	Discussion of aroids <aroid-l@gizmoworks.com>
Sent : 	Wednesday, September 5, 2007 1:39 PM
To : 	Discussion of aroids <aroid-l@gizmoworks.com>
Subject : 	Re: [Aroid-l] Aroid recipes/edibility

Dear Friends,

I have had some time to browse the web-site kindly sent by George (below), 
and there are so many errors that I no longer have any confidence that the 
plant being sold by them as 'Tannier spinach' bears any resemblance to the 
actual plant in question, said to be X. brasilense.
The illustrations they use on other pages is not of the species being 
advertized, eg. on their page advertising X. atrovirens, the plants in that 
photo are in fact Colocasia sp.   By the way, they list X. atrovires leaves 
as also being edible, interesting!
The illustration of what they claim to be X. brasilense appears to be from 
an old Botanical book, and could be of any sagittate-leaved Xanthosoma sp., 
it certainly does not look like the living plants of X. brasilense I have 
seen, which have acutely hastate, almost tri-lobed leaf blades.   But yet 
they describe their specimens as having an 'arrow-shaped' leaf, this is 
puzzling.  John`s memory is also of a sagittate leaf blade, and my Guianese 
friend described the leaves of her 'rickwanch' as looking somewhat like a 
small Colocasia leaf, NOT tri-lobed.
Another possiblity JUST occured to me---in Guiana there is another 
Xanthosoma sp., small, dark colored, all-green sagittate leaves, and it has 
those little 'flaps' attached to the mid-rib on the undersides of the leaf 
blades.   I have seen it called X. atrovirens var. monstrosum.   I often 
make reference to it as a plant that you can see evolve vegitativly right 
before your eyes, as the off-shoots can look quite different to the 
'mother'-plant.   This would be exactly like the plant that John remembers!
SO---the mystery continues, we need to see a photo of this 
Guianese/Surinamese plant!!

The Best,

Julius

>>Hello everyone,
Could it be the Tanier Spinach? Here is a link for reference:
http://www.tropilab.com/tanierspinach.html
I tried ordering once and, unlucky for me, the tuber/rhizome just
rotted after I planted it.
One time when I learned that an acquaintance once stay in Surinam, I
asked about it and was told that it tasted quite good.
George Yao<<
Metro-Manila

At 9/4/2007 11:02 PM, you wrote:

>Dear Julius,

 >>>

>         Anyway, my reason for writing is that in Guyana we used to eat
an
>aroid called "spinach".  It was smallish, with dark green sagittate
leaves
>about 6 inches long and was cultivated on dry ground as far as I know,
and
>had a very delicious flavour.  As I remember it, thorough cooking was
>necessary to avoid it "scratching" your mouth. It was regularly sold in
the
>market.  I have seen it in Barbados, but attempts to grow it in Grenada
have
>not been successful.  Do you recognize this plant from my description,
and
>is it grown in Trinidad?
>
>         Yours sincerely,
>                                                 John Criswick.

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