Xanthosoma is a genus of
flowering plants in the arum family,
Araceae. The genus is native to tropical
America but widely cultivated and naturalized in other tropical regions. Several are grown for their
starchy corms, an important
food staple of tropical regions, known variously as
malanga,
otoy,
otoe, cocoyam (or new cocoyam),
tannia,
tannier,
yautía,
macabo,
ocumo,
macal,
taioba,
dasheen,
quequisque,
ape and (in
Papua New Guinea) as Singapore taro (
taro kongkong). Many other species (including especially
X. roseum) are used as
ornamental plants, and in popular horticultural literature are known as ‘ape or elephant ear (from the purported resemblance of the leaf to an
elephant's
ear), although the latter name is sometimes also applied to members with similar appearance and uses in the closely related genera
Caladium,
Colocasia (i.e.,
taro), and
Alocasia. The
leaves of most
Xanthosoma species are 40-200 cm long, sagittate (arrowhead-shaped) or subdivided into three or as many as 18 segments. Unlike the leaves of
Colocasia, those of
Xanthosoma are usually not peltate- the upper v-notch extends into the point of attachment of the leaf petiole to the blade.