Taro Yam, small yam popular in Dioscorea sp.
Taro was probably first native to the lowland wetlands of Indonesia where it was known as "talas." Estimates are that taro was in cultivation in wet tropical India before 5000 , presumably coming from Malaysia, and from India further transported westward to ancient Egypt, where it was described by Greek and Roman historians as an important crop. The Indonesian crop and the indigenous name ("talas") followed prehistoric Austronesian seafarers into Oceania where it is currently known as cognate variants of "talas" including "dalo," "talo," "taro," and "kalo." Taro's scientific name is Colocasia esculenta (synonym C. antiquorum); esculent is an English word taken directly from Latin and means edible. The Xanthosoma genus is closely related, and several common names including callaloo and coco or cocoyam are used to refer to either Taro or domesticated Xanthosoma species which share substantially the same uses. Taro may be distinguished as "taro cocoyam" or "old cocoyam", with the term "new cocoyam" referring to species of Xanthosoma.
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Keywords: ..asia., carbohydrate, cultivation, dioscorea, food, popular, small, sp., staple, starch, taro, tuper, yam
