Remusatia vivipara (Roxb.) Schott

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Hitchhiker Elephant Ear
Hitch Hiker’ Plant

In Omanis studies: Miller & Morris wrote that: "This plant produces large vivid red-skinned tubers in the rainy season, which are gathered from the middle of the rainy season right through to the end of the winter, when they are considered to be at their best. Collected tubers as well as being eaten fresh, were also dried and stored. They keep well, and when needed would usually be pounded down to make a rough meal which would be mixed with a liquid to make a kind of 'asideh, a moist paste. The tubers are cooked very slowly, peeled or unpeeled, covered with a layer of leaves (the leaves of Euclea schimperi are considered to impart the best flavour) for at least three hours, to rid them of their acrid taste and astringency (called in Jibbali hasem). Once cooked, they were either eaten drained of their cooking water without further preparation, ... or mashed to a paste with clarified butter [J: mesh], or buttermilk [J: rob]. Alternatively, whole tubers could be roasted slowly in the hot ashes of the fire, or cut small and cooked more briefly, as were sweet potatoes. However, both this tuber and those of Arisaema flavum have rather an equivocal reputation due to their sometimes producing unpleasant and rather humiliating side effects in those who eat them in quantity or repeatdly, namely itching and occasional ulceration and chapping of the perianal region. These sores then had to be treated with the specially prepared bark [J: nefgot] of various Commiphora species. Such side effects are particularly severe if the tubers are insufficiently cooked, hence the long, slow cooking. The tubers of R. vivipara and Arisaema flavum were both considered to be rather inferior food, probably for this reason, and would not normally be offered to guests or visitors (in the way the bulbs of Gladiolus ukambanensis (= G. candidus) would, for instance), and many men pride themselves on never having had to eat them at all, claiming that they are the food of women and children only. However, most would admit that in the privacy of the home, and with hunger pressing in a bad year, few men would have refused to eat this filling, nourishing and easily available food, despite its rather unpleasant taste and dubious reputation". (Ref. Plants Of Dhofar). In addition, Ghazanfar (2018) mentioned that: "The tubers which are produced from the monsoon season to the winter months (August-December) are recorded to be a source of food for locals, eaten fresh or dried and stored for later consumption". (Ref. Flora of Oman; vol.4).

Ghazanfar, S. (2018). Flora of the Sultanate of Oman, vol.4: Hydrocharitaceae – Orchidaceae. Meise, National Botanic Garden of Belgium (Scripta Botanica Begica, Vol. 25). ISBN 9789492663153 ISSN 0779-2387. Miller, A., Morris, M. (1988). Plants of Dhofar, the Southern Region of Oman: Traditional, Economic, and Medicinal Uses. Published by Office of the Adviser for Conservation of the Environment, Diwan of Royal Court, Sultanate of Oman; ISBN 10: 0715708082 ISSN 13: 9780715708088. https://en.wikipedia.org https://books.google.com.om Gledhill, D. (2008). The Names of Plants. Fourth Edition. Cambridge University Press, UK. ISBN 978-0-521-86645-3 ISSN 978-0-521-68553-5. POWO (2023). "Plants of the World Online. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet; http://www.plantsoftheworldonline.org