The tubers of all the kinds are acrid, except one, which is so mild that it may be eaten raw.

After it is freed from acridity by baking, the kalo is pounded until reduced to a kind of paste which is eaten cold, under the name of poi.

It is the principal food of the natives, with whom it takes the place of bread.

The kalo leaves are eaten like spinach (_luau_), and the flowers (spathe and spadix), cooked in the leaves of the cordyline (_C.

terminalis_, H.B.K.), form a most delicious dish.