Tropical Homegardens - library.uniteddiversity.coop

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bast fiber of which is used for bark cloth (tapa); and sources of dyes such as annatto
(Bixa orellana) and Java cedar (Bischofia javanica). There may also be
multipurpose trees such as Leucaena leucocephala, a wide range of medicinal
plants, plus countless other plants of considerable technological, economic, social,
ecological, and ornamental values (Table 2; Fig. 1).
Table 2. Significant plant species of urban and rural Pacific island homegardens and
underdeveloped urban and periurban open areas.
a. Homegardens
Category Species
Staple root
crops
Supplementary
food crops
R.R. THAMAN T ET AL.
Alocasia macrorrhiza (giant taro)
Colocasia esculenta (taro)
Cyrtosperma chamissonis (giant swamp taro)
Dioscorea alata (greater yam)
Dioscorea esculenta (sweet yam)
Ipomoea batatas (sweet potato)
Manihot esculenta (cassava)
Xanthosoma spp. (tannia or cocoyam)
Abelmoschus esculentus (okra)
Abelmoschus manihot t (hibiscus spinach)
Allium spp. (bunching onions)
Amaranthus spp. (amaranth spinach)
Ananas comosus (pineapple)
Arachis hypogaea (peanuts)
Brassica chinensis, B. juncea and B. oleracea vars. (cabbages,
including Chinese, mustard and English or head cabbages)
Cajanus cajan (pigeon pea)
Citrullus lanatus (watermelon)
Coccinea grandis (ivy gourd)
Colocasia esculenta (taro leaf spinach)
Cucumis melo var. cantalupensis (cantaloupe or rock melon)
Cucumis sativus (cucumber)
Cucurbita pepo (pumpkin)
Luffa acutangula (angled loofah or ridgegourd)
Luffa cylindrica (sponge gourd)
Momordica charantia (bitter gourd)
Passiflora edulis (passionfruit)
Phaseolus, Psophocarpus and Vigna spp. (beans and other
legumes)
Saccharum officinarum (sugarcane)
Solanum lycopersicon (tomato)
Solanum melongena (eggplant)
Xanthosoma spp. (taro leaf spinach)
Zea mays (corn)