Nutritional Freshwater Life
74
Colocasia esculenta (L.) (Schott)
Order: Alismatales
Family: Araceae
Common name: Taro, elephant ears.
Distribution: Native to the lowland wetlands of Malaysia; western Australia.
Habitat: Swampy areas.
Description: It is an emergent aquatic
and semiaquatic plant. Rhizomes are
of different shapes and sizes. Leaves
up to 40 × 24.8 cm, sprouts from
rhizome, dark green above and light
green beneath, triangular-ovate, subrounded, and mucronate at apex; tip
of the basal lobes rounded or subrounded. Spadix about 3/5 as long as
the spathe, flowering parts up to 8 mm
in diameter. Female portion at the fertile ovaries intermixed with sterile
white ones. The corms of this species
are edible.
Nutritional Facts
Proximate Composition of Leaves (% DM)
Moisture
Ash
Fiber Protein Fat CHO a Energy b
8.00
10.00
1.00
5.57
4.5 78.93
378.5
a Carbohydrate.
b kcal/100 g.
Minerals (mg/100 g)
K
Na
Ca
Fe
94
9.8
2.15
4.0
Source: Data from Yirankinyuki
and Lamayi (2013).
74
Colocasia esculenta (L.) (Schott)
Order: Alismatales
Family: Araceae
Common name: Taro, elephant ears.
Distribution: Native to the lowland wetlands of Malaysia; western Australia.
Habitat: Swampy areas.
Description: It is an emergent aquatic
and semiaquatic plant. Rhizomes are
of different shapes and sizes. Leaves
up to 40 × 24.8 cm, sprouts from
rhizome, dark green above and light
green beneath, triangular-ovate, subrounded, and mucronate at apex; tip
of the basal lobes rounded or subrounded. Spadix about 3/5 as long as
the spathe, flowering parts up to 8 mm
in diameter. Female portion at the fertile ovaries intermixed with sterile
white ones. The corms of this species
are edible.
Nutritional Facts
Proximate Composition of Leaves (% DM)
Moisture
Ash
Fiber Protein Fat CHO a Energy b
8.00
10.00
1.00
5.57
4.5 78.93
378.5
a Carbohydrate.
b kcal/100 g.
Minerals (mg/100 g)
K
Na
Ca
Fe
94
9.8
2.15
4.0
Source: Data from Yirankinyuki
and Lamayi (2013).