Colocasia esculenta

Folio 88 bears a specimen of a single leaf that we identify as Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott ( Araceae). It is accompanied by the text: ‘Keladi. Ambon. Lotus Aegyptia Alpini.’ (Fig. 1), indicating it came from the Moluccas. This aroid species with edible corms, currently widely cultivated in the tropics, is not included in Hermann’s collections in London, Erfurt or Paris (Lourteig 1966, Rauschert 1970), and is not mentioned in the Museum Zeylanicum (Sherard 1717, Gunawardena 1975). Rumphius, however, described 10 forms of ‘Kelady’ or ‘Egyptian Arum’ in his Herbarium Amboinense (1747: 313), among which is the sterile, domesticated tuber crop Caladium sativum (now Colocasia esculenta). The original illustration of C. esculenta in Rumphius’ manuscript BPL 314 is shown in Fig. 2.