Tapioca Plant
July 2005
Could you please identify the plant in the attached photo? I dug it up several years
ago from an old house place in Georgia when we lived there. The fruit turns a light
color and is about the size of a fifty cent coin. The main trunk will get about fifteen
to twenty feet tall if I keep the suckers trimmed. The overall shape is like an umbrella
and very eye-catching when it gets some size on it by mid summer. It dies back to
the ground each winter, but sprouts back from the roots. The woody parts are hollow.
The plant in question is commonly called a tapioca plant. Since your plant over winters,
I would assume it is Manihot grahamii or the hardy tapioca. The edible tropical plant
is Manihot esculenta, but would not over winter north of zone 9. Other common names
for this plant are cassava. M. esculenta is grown for its enlarged starch-filled tuberous
roots. This woody perennial can grow quite large in one season, even though it does
die back to the ground each year. It has a very tropical feel to it. The plant does
well in sun to partial shade. There is a variegated foliage one that is quite nice,
but would not be winter hardy.
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