CASSAVA/ MANIOC/
TAPIOCA/ YUCA

From time to time here you run into a garden in which is planted the digitately-compound-leafed shrub shown above.

That's the Manioc plant, sometimes called Tapioca-Plant or Cassava in English, and here usually referred to as Yuca, which is very confusing to those with Joshua-Tree Yuccas on their mind. It's MANIHOT ESCULENTA, native of Brazil and cultivated throughout the world's tropics for its large, fleshy roots, which when boiled produce a starchy food not unlike boiled potatoes. In certain parts of the world it's the main staple but in Mexico where corn and beans reign it never reached as high a status as in some places. It's not common here, probably because it's a bit too dry for it.

Cassava's digitately compound leaves may remind you of both the Marijuana plant and the Castor-Bean. The similarity with Marijuana is purely incidental, but with regard to the Castor-Bean it makes since because Cassava and Castor-Bean belong to closely related genera in the same family, the Euphorbia or Spurge Family, the Euphorbiaceae.

The plant in the picture grows beside several other Cassavas at the edge of a neighbor's bean patch. At the bottom left you see a bean vine twining up a pole stuck there for the purpose. Squash vines also were planted there.

In the old days of my backpacking in Guatemala I ate a lot of "Yuca," buying it in white, bite-size cubes sold by Indian ladies from cloth-covered baskets. It was a carbohydrate even cheaper than tortillas and in its own way just as tasty. This plant should be grown more in the tropics, and it's a shame it doesn't last long in temperate gardens.

One problem with Cassava's root is that it must be boiled pretty vigorously to soften it and break down its very poisonous chemicals.