Bot. [L. colocāsia, a. Gr. κολοκασία prop. the rhizome or ‘root’ of the Egyptian water-lily (Nelumbium speciosum), whence extended to the whole plant.]
A genus of plants of the Arum family, natives of the East Indies, and largely cultivated in warm climates for the sake of their leaves and tuberous root-stocks, used as articles of food.
1829. Lee, trans. Ibn Batuta’s Trav., 170. We next came to Dadkannan…. In this are found … the cocoanut and colocassia.
