Tacca leontopetaloides
Tacca pinnatifida
East Indian arrowroot ( Tacca leontopetaloides, Syn: Tacca pinnatifida ), also called Pia, Loki or Green Bat Lily, is a crop from the family of Dioscorea.
Description
The perennial herbaceous plant has meter long pedunculated finger-like divided leaves. It emerges from tubers and initially forms a compressed axis.
It has large green filigree upright inflorescences.
From the Page Down the axillary buds arise tubular outgrowths, which extend like streamers and then swell into potato -like tubers. Morphologically go the tubers so forth from axillary buds. They have a weight from 100 to 350 g
Dissemination
Originally on islands of the Indian and Pacific Ocean.
Ingredients
The tubers contain about 27.6 % starch and traded as Tahiti, Fiji or East Indian arrowroot.
Cultivation and uses
This plant is also grown to a limited use in China, Indochina, India and Cameroon except on the islands on which it occurs initially. She is always on the Fiji Islands were an important food and spread from there to Polynesia and Malaysia.
Preparation
The tubers of bitter and must be soaked in water before further processing. The thickness provides a good bread flour and is cooked or used as laundry starch.