''Tacca leontopetaloides'' is a species of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

in the yam family Dioscoreaceae. It is native to the islands of Southeast Asia. Austronesian peoples introduced it as a canoe plant throughout the Indo-Pacific tropics during prehistoric times. It has become naturalized to

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the equator, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's ax ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

South Asia South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia that is defined in both geographical and Ethnicity, ethnic-Culture, cultural terms. South Asia, with a population of 2.04 billion, contains a quarter (25%) of the world's populatio ...

, northern

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, and Oceania. Common names include Polynesian arrowroot, Fiji arrowroot, East Indies arrowroot, pia, and seashore bat lily.

History of cultivation

Polynesian arrowroot is an ancient Austronesian root crop closely related to yams. It is originally native to Island Southeast Asia. It was introduced throughout the entire range of the Austronesian expansion during prehistoric times ( 5,000 BP), including Micronesia,

Polynesia Polynesia ( , ) is a subregion of Oceania, made up of more than 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are called Polynesians. They have many things in ...

, and

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

. Polynesian arrowroot have been identified as among the cultivated crops in Lapita sites in Palau, dating back to 3,000 to 2,000 BP. It was also introduced to

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

, southern India, and possibly also Australia through trade and contact. Polynesian arrowroot was a minor staple among Austronesians. The roots are bitter if not prepared properly, thus it was only cultivated as a secondary crop to staples like '' Dioscorea alata'' and '' Colocasia esculenta''. Its importance increased for settlers in the Pacific Islands, where food plants were scarcer, and it was introduced to virtually all the inhabited islands. They were valued for their ability to grow in low islands and atolls, and were often the staple crops in islands with these conditions. In larger islands, they were usually allowed to grow wild and were useful only as famine food. Several cultivars have been developed in Polynesia due to the centuries of artificial selection. The starch extracted from the root with traditional methods can last for a very long time, and thus can be stored or traded. The starch can be cooked in leaves to make starchy puddings, similar to the use of starch extracted from sago palms ('' Metroxylon sagu''). Due to the introduction of modern crops, it is rarely cultivated today.

Description

The tubers are round, hard and potato-like, with a brown skin and white interior. In December, the plant is dormant, the leaves and stalks dry up and die down to the ground until March when new leaves grow back. The leaves are "palmately incised and/or divided into 3-13 lobes, each lobe pinnately divided into numerous smaller ones". Several petioles in length extend from the center of the plant which look like giant celery, on which the large leaves ( long and up to wide) are attached. The leaf's upper surface has depressed veins, and the under surface is shiny with bold yellow veins.

Umbels

Flowers are borne on tall stalks in greenish-purple umbel-like clusters surrounded by large bracts with long whisker-like appendages, their function is unknown. Each single flower has long, threadlike bracteoles 1 cm long. The fruit emerges from the bracts, each fruit are globular 4–5 cm long. The fruits ripen and turn from pale or dark green to pale orange. Each fruit produces many flat, ribbed and yellowish brown seeds 5–8 mm long. File:Tacca leontopetaloides - umbel.jpg, Inflorescence (umbel) Tacca leontopetaloides - flower (6694935793).jpg, Flower with 6 tepals, 6 stamens and 3-lobed stigma Tacca leontopetaloides 48143668.jpg, Infructescence

Uses

The tubers of Polynesian arrowroot contain starch, making it an important food source for many Pacific Island cultures, primarily for the inhabitants of low islands and atolls. Polynesian arrowroot was prepared into a

flour Flour is a powder made by Mill (grinding), grinding raw grains, List of root vegetables, roots, beans, Nut (fruit), nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredie ...

to make a variety of puddings. The tubers are first grated and then allowed to soak in fresh water. The settled starch is rinsed repeatedly to remove the bitter taste from taccalin, a kind of poisonous substance, and then dried. The flour was mixed with mashed taro,

breadfruit Breadfruit (''Artocarpus altilis'') is a species of flowering tree in the mulberry and jackfruit family ( Moraceae) believed to have been selectively bred in Polynesia from the breadnut ('' Artocarpus camansi''). Breadfruit was spread into ...

, or pandan fruit extract and mixed with coconut cream to prepare puddings. In

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

, a local favorite is haupia, which was originally made with ''pia'' flour, coconut cream and kō ( cane sugar). Today, Polynesian arrowroot has been largely replaced by cornstarch. The starch was additionally used to stiffen fabrics, and on some islands, the stem's bast fibres were woven into mats. In traditional Hawaiian medicine the raw tubers were eaten to treat stomach ailments. Mixed with

water Water is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance. It is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known liv ...

and red

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...

, the plant was consumed to treat diarrhea and dysentery. This combination was also used to stop internal hemorrhaging in the stomach and colon and applied to wounds to stop bleeding.

Notes

References

* .

External links

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1577447 Dioscoreaceae Root vegetables Flora of Africa Flora of tropical Asia Flora of the Northwestern Pacific Flora of the Southwestern Pacific Flora of Australia Plants described in 1891 Tropical flora Hawaiian cuisine Niuean cuisine Austronesian agriculture