Taxonomy and ethnobotany of Colocasia esculenta and C. formosana (Araceae): implications for the evolution, natural range, and domestication of taro

A critical problem for the taxonomy of taro (C. esculenta), and for understanding the evolution and domestication of this species, is that there is no way to recognise, by simple visual inspection, a wild population of taro as part of a natural distribution. This is because people throughout Southeast Asia have long used wild taro as a vegetable for human and animal consumption (as food and fodder). The example of C. formosana Hayata is introduced here because our observations so far indicate that this is a naturallydistributed wild species throughout its known range, despite its close phenotypic similarity to C. esculenta. To learn about the evolution, natural range, and domestication Aroideana VOL 38E NO 1, 2015 153 Matthews, Nguyen, Tandang, Agoo and Madulid, 2015 Taxonomy and ethnobotany of Colocasia... Aroideana VOL 38E NO 1, 2015 154 Figure 1 The “Water Kelady” (Caladium aquatile) illustrated by Rumphius 1741–50 (2011) in The Ambonese Herbal. Hasskarl (1848) referred to this work to establish the name C. esculenta Schott var. aquatilis (Rumph). The parent plant is flowering, and a new shoot has sprouted from the stolon at left. Matthews, Nguyen, Tandang, Agoo and Madulid, 2015 Taxonomy and ethnobotany of Colocasia... of taro, closer study of C. formosana is