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THEDASHEEN; A SOUTHERN ROOT CROP
FOR HOME USE AND MARKET1
By ROBERT A. YOUNG, associate horticulturist, Division of Plant Exploration
and Introduction, Bureau of Plant Industry
CONTENTS
Page Page
What the dasheen is
.----
---------
1 Marketing -------------------------
19
General description of the dasheen -------
2 Testing the crop for quality------------
20
Chemical composition and digestibility-----
6 Grading for market---------------------
20
History of the introduction of the dasheen_-
7 Packing and shipping------------------
21
Beginning of the dasheen industry in the Diseases and insect enemies ------..-----.--_ 23
United States ---------------
7 Root knot ------------
-----------
23
Possibilities for growth of the industry -----
8 Storage rots----------------------------
25
Varieties -----------------------------------
11 Insect enemies-----,-------------------
25
Cultivation ----------------------------
12 Uses ------------------------------------
26
Fertilizers ---
---------------------------
14 Corms and tubers----------------------
26
Harvesting -----------------------------
15 Leaves and leafstalks-------------------
31
Digging -------------------------------
15 Dasheen shoots--3--
--------------
35
Cleaning and grading -----------------
17 Stock feed --------------------------
36
Storage
.---.-------
------------------
18 Industrial uses--------------------
37
WHAT THE DASHEEN IS
DASHEENS have been grown commercially in the Southern
States since 1913. They were cultivated experimentally or
for home use by a few persons several years earlier. The Trinidad
dasheen-the variety commonly grown in the South-is an especially
rich-flavored, mealy cooking, and prolific variety of the Polynesian
and oriental taro (Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott). In food properties
it is very similar to the potato, but the dasheen contains less
water, and in consequence the content of starch and protein is about
one-half greater than that of the potato. The name "dasheen" is
believed to be a corruption of the French expression "de Chine"
(from China),2 indicating the supposed country of origin of this
variety of taro. The full name originally used in the West Indies
was probably "taro de Chine" (Chinese taro) or something of
similar meaning, but the first part of the name seems to have passed
out of use in most, if not all, localities.
1Previous publications of the United States Department of Agriculture (now out of
print) on dasheen culture are as follows:
Bureau of Plant Industry Bulletin 164, Yautias, Taros, and Dasheens.
Bureau of Plant Industry Circular 127, The Dasheen, a Root Crop for the Southern
States.
Bureau of Plant Industry [Document] 1110, The Dasheen, a Root Crop for the South.
Yearbook 1916, pp. 199-208, The Dasheen: Its Uses and Culture.
Department Circular 125, Forcing and Blanching Dasheen Shoots.
Department Bulletin 1247, Taros and Yautias; Promising New Food Plants for the
South.
0. W. Barrett, who was formerly connected with the Division of Plant Exploration and
Introduction and who spent some time in Trinidad as well as in other parts of the West
Indies, states that the word "dasheen" originated in Trinidad, being an anglicized form
of "da Chine" (pronounced dah-sheen)-the expression used in the French patois of the
West Indies spoken by the peasant class of Trinidad. This opinion is confirmed in its
essentials by other investigators.
1
