| Elephant foot yam | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Monocots |
| Order: | Alismatales |
| Family: | Araceae |
| Subfamily: | Aroideae |
| Tribe: | Thomsonieae |
| Genus: | Amorphophallus |
| Species: | A. paeoniifolius |
| Binomial name | |
| Amorphophallus paeoniifolius (Dennst.) Nicolson |
|
| Synonyms | |
|
A. campanulata |
|
Amorphophallus paeoniifolius, the Elephant foot yam or Whitespot giant arum [1][2] or Stink lily, is a tropical tuber crop that offers excellent scope for adoption in the tropical countries as a cash crop due to its production potential and popularity as a vegetable in various delicious cuisines.
Elephant foot yam is basically a crop of Southeast Asian origin. It grows in wild form in the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, and other Southeast Asian countries. In India it is grown mostly in West Bengal, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Orissa. In India it is popularly known as Suran in Hindi, Senai kizhangu in Tamil, Suvarna gedde in Kannada, Ol in Bengali, Chaena in Malayalam and Oluo in Oriya.
However, in Tonga, teve was seen as the most inferior of all yam species, only to be eaten if really nothing else was available.