Taro (Colocasia esculenta)

Talas or taro (Colocasia esculenta) is a plant species in Araceae, 0.4 to 1.5 m high, has no stem and is not woody, waxy leaves, important tuber producers where corm that grows underground is a source of carbohydrates and cultivated since ancient times.

C. esculenta has 2-5 leaves with green stems, dark green or purplish stripes, 23-150 cm long and the base is a midrib. Leaves have a size of 6.60x7.53 cm, round eggs, oval with tapered ends, sometimes purplish in color around the stalks, waxy and rounded base.

The flower comes in the cob on the armpit of the leaf and has a stem for a length of 15-60 cm. The sheath has a length of 10-30 cm consisting of two parts where the top is longer, yellow orange and fall out. Male cob is yellow, fruit is green and 0.5 cm in diameter. Bobbin-shaped seeds and grooved longitudinally.

Taro is grown for tubers as an important source of carbohydrates. However, these tubers contain itchy sap, so they must be cooked before consuming them. Tubers can be processed by steaming, boiling, baking, frying, or processed into flour, porridge, cakes, pasta and fermented to produce pudding.

Young leaves and stems are processed as vegetables in coconut milk. Leaves, stems and tubers are also used as animal feed and carp. The surface of the leaves is covered with fine hairs which make it waterproof, shield-shaped and wide often used as a head protector when it rains, food wrappers and live fish containers.

Taro has a sweet, spicy and neutral taste. Bulbs, leaves and petioles contain flour, villose, polyphenols and saponins. Tubers are used for anti-inflammation and reduce swelling. The leaves and stems are astringent.

Talas has at least four varieties. Pandanus taro has a purplish color, a reddish stem base and has a fragrance after boiling. Glutinous taro has a light green color, has a lot of shoots and is somewhat sticky after boiling. Bull taro has purple stems, large bulbs, but has a bitter taste. Lahun taro has a small size and has many shoots.

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Liliopsida
Order: Alismatales
Family: Araceae
Subfamily: Aroideae
Tribe: Colocasieae
Genus: Colocasia
Species: Colocasia esculenta
Subspecies: Colocasia esculenta ssp. antiquorum, Colocasia esculenta ssp. esculenta

Yellow garden spider (Argiope appensa)

Yellow garden spider ( Argiope appensa ) is a species of spider in Araneidae that lives on the coast to forests on islands in the western Pacific Ocean. Black and yellow females are striking and have a length of 5.1-6.4 cm including long legs, while males are brown and have a length of about 1.9 cm. A. appensa lives on cliffs in the hills at 600 m above sea level in Kewu plain to rice fields in the lowlands. They make nests at a height of 1.5 meters from the ground between teak ( Tectona grandis ), sonokeling ( Dalbergia latifolia ), sonosiso ( Dalbergia sissoo ), crown flower ( Calotropis gigantea ) and various grasses. Yellow garden spiders grow in large sizes, but are not toxic to humans. Advanced builds ball-shaped nets and most of them make stabilizers which are zigzag-shaped lines in nets made of thicker bands. This species spends more time in stationary and sits in the middle of the net with its head down to wait for insects to be entangled in fine silk thread. Unli...

Skyflower (Duranta erecta)

Sinyo nakal or skyflower ( Duranta erecta ) is plant species in Verbenaceae, a broad shrub or small tree, up to 6 m high, stems growing upright or horizontally with broad clumps, many branches, bark light brown, old tree has axillary spines and grows to form dense colonies. D. erecta has bright green leaves, elliptical to ovoid, pointed or rounded ends, sitting opposite, 7.5 cm long, 3.5 cm wide, a main vein in the middle with several small lateral veins, petiole long 1.5 cm. Flowers are light blue or lavender or white, appear in tight clusters as on terminal stems and axils, often curled or pendulous, blooms in summer. The fruit is a berry having a stalk, small round, yellow or orange or white in color, up to 11 mm in diameter, an eye green in front and containing several seeds. Skyflower grows in dry or humid areas and lots of sun, rocky or sandy beaches, forests, farmland and disturbed places. Plants will grow at a rate of up to half a meter per year. Kingdom: Plantae Phylum:...

Big-leaved acacia (Acacia mangium)

Big-leaved acacia ( Acacia mangium ) is a species of woody plants in the Acacieae, long oval leaves, growing up to 30 m and straight stems, except in less favorable places will grow only 7-10 m, have hardwood, rough, longitudinal grooved and dark to light brown. A. mangium has shoots with compound leaves consisting of many minor leaves and after growing a few weeks does not produce any more real leaves but the main axis of the petiole of each compound leaves widens and turns into known pohyllocladus or pseudo leaves. Big-leaved acacia has about 142,000 seeds/kg. Long pods form circular threads and are black or brown when ripe. Dry pods will open to expose small black seeds. Trees bind nitrogen to the soil and are a popular species for agroforestry projects. This plant is weather resistant, although it requires special care if it is planted as a garden plant where the leaves are falling a lot. These plants include legumes that grow quickly by increasing height 4 m per year near ...

Dlium