Alocasia fornicata

High school (ages 12+)
Food & Cooking

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/alocasia-fornicata

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the scientific classification?Genus: Alocasia, Species: fornicata, Family: Araceae
2. What is the native range?Primarily Southeast Asia, including India, Bangladesh, and surrounding regions
3. Why do people eat Alocasia fornicata?The plant has starchy corms that give lots of energy, like potatoes or yams. People have cooked them for many years to make them safe and tasty.
4. How do people make Alocasia fornicata safe to eat?The corms have sharp calcium crystals that can hurt the mouth. They boil, roast, or ferment the corms for a long time to break the crystals and make them safe.

Perennial Herbaceous Plant: A plant that lives for many years, with non-woody stems that die back annually.
Ethnobotany: The study of how people of a particular culture and region use indigenous plants.