Search
eco

Cassava

Manihot esculenta, commonly called cassava, manioc, or yuca, is a woody shrub of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native to South America, from Brazil, Paraguay and parts of the Andes. Although a perennial plant, cassava is extensively cultivated in tropical and subtropical regions as an annual crop for its edible starchy tuberous root. Cassava is predominantly consumed in boiled form, but substantial quantities are processed to extract cassava starch, called tapioca, which is used for food, animal feed, and industrial purposes. The Brazilian farofa, and the related garri of West Africa, is an edible coarse flour obtained by grating cassava roots, pressing moisture off the obtained grated pulp, and finally drying and roasting it.

From Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0

Research Mentions

bioRxiv → · preprint

Gene silencing protects cassava from bacterial blight and streak virus

Cassava feeds roughly 800 million people across Africa, Asia, and Latin America, and two diseases...

Combining resistant crops and pest control beats cassava's double v...

Cassava feeds hundreds of millions of people across Africa, and this model shows that planting re...

One genetic marker reliably predicts more nutritious cassava roots

Cassava feeds over half a billion people worldwide, often in regions where vitamin A deficiency i...

Cassava farming could fuel rural tourism in Angola

The humble root vegetable behind tapioca and fufu turns out to be a cultural anchor and potential...

Cassava farming could power rural tourism in Angola

The starchy root you might know from tapioca or cassava flour is, for over 200 farming households...

mail

Weekly discoveries in your inbox

Get the week's most interesting plant science — one email, every Saturday. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.

You'll get a confirmation email — check spam if you don't see it within 5 minutes.

Taxonomy

Scientific: Manihot esculenta
Family: Euphorbiaceae
Genus: Manihot
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Malpighiales
Hardiness: Zone 8
Habit: herb
Bloom: Early Summer