Economic Botanical Notes on Edible Canna (Cannaceae) in South Vietnam

Abstract

In the course of my taxonomical work of the family Cannaceae, an economic botanical survey of the edible canna plants (Canna edulis Ker Gawl. and its allies) was carried out to investigate its identity, properties and utilization in south Vietnam. Besides the utilization of cooked rhizomes for their own consumption by local people, starch extracted from rhizomes is used to produce noodle which was sometimes found at the market. In Vietnam, thus, edible canna is of commercial value and can provide an applicable cash income to small and poor villagers. The edible canna plants cultivated in the area covered by the present study were found to be a single species, C. discolor Lindl. A field investigation also suggests that this species does not coincide at all with C. edulis though it has been so identified for a long time.