Morpho-anatomical and phytochemical diversities in selected members of family Aroideae

Many root and tuber crops are grown throughout the world in hot and humid regions for their use as vegetable as most of them contain starch as the major carbohydrate in them. They are important diet component for human and add variety to it. Taro is used as a staple food or subsistence food by millions of people in many of the developing countries. It can be grown as a root crop, as a leafy vegetable, as an ornamental and as medicinal plant. The present study focused on some selected members of the family Araceae. A total of seven species belonging to the family Araceae from the same locality were collected and identified. Some Araceae leaves possess vital nutritive and nonnutritive components in significant amounts, but are underutilized, and lesser explored. Seven members of Araceae family were compared for morphological, anatomical and phytochemical characteristics. Anatomically the samples were compared for anatomy of leaf, petiole, stomatal types, grains etc. Phytochemically the samples were analysed for flavanoid, alkaloid, tannin, saponin, flavanol, reducing sugar, terpenoid and phenol.