Editing Maranta arundinacea

{{short description|Species of plant}}
{{other uses|Arrowroot (disambiguation)}}
{{For|Arrowroot cultivation and processing as an edible starch|Arrowroot}}
{{Italic title}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2024}}
{{speciesbox
|name = Arrowroot
|image = Marant arund 090103-5154 rwg.JPG
|genus = Maranta
|species = arundinacea
|authority = [[Carl Linnaeus|L.]]<ref name=POWO>{{cite POWO |title=''Maranta arundinacea'' L. |id=280408-2 |access-date=13 September 2024}}</ref>
|synonyms =
* ''Maranta indica'' <small>Tussac</small>
* ''Maranta minor'' <small>Chantrier ex André</small>
* ''Maranta ramosissima'' <small>Wall.</small>
* ''Maranta sylvatica'' <small>Roscoe ex Sm.</small>
|synonyms_ref = <ref name=POWO/>
}}
{{nutritional value | name=Arrowroot, raw
| kJ=271
| protein=4.24 g
| fat=0.2 g
| carbs=13.39 g
| fiber=1.3 g
| iron_mg=2.22
| magnesium_mg=25
| phosphorus_mg=98
| potassium_mg=454
| zinc_mg=0.63
| manganese_mg=0.174
| thiamin_mg=0.143
| riboflavin_mg=0.059
| niacin_mg=1.693
| pantothenic_mg=0.292
| vitB6_mg=0.266
| folate_ug=338
| source_usda = 1
| note=[https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/168490/nutrients Link to USDA Database entry]
}}

'''''Maranta arundinacea''''', also known as '''arrowroot''', '''maranta''', '''West Indian arrowroot''',<ref name=GRIN>{{GRIN | access-date = 12 January 2018}}</ref> '''obedience plant''' or '''Bermuda arrowroot'''<ref name=CRC>{{cite book | last = Quattrocchi | first = Umberto | date = 1999 | title = CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names: Common Names, Scientific Names, Eponyms, Synonyms, and Etymology | volume = 3 | pages = 1613 | publisher = CRC Press | isbn = 9780849326776 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=kaN-hLL-3qEC&pg=PA1613 | access-date = 1 February 2025}}</ref> is a large, [[perennial plant|perennial]] [[herb]] found in [[rainforest]] habitats of the [[Americas]], but cultivated in tropical regions worldwide.

==Description==
[[File:Arrowroots.JPG|thumb|200px|The root of ''M. arundinacea''.]]
Arrowroot is a perennial plant growing to a height of between {{convert|0.3|m|ft|0|abbr=on}} and {{convert|1.5|m|ft|0|abbr=on}}.  Its leaves are lanceolate. The edible part of the plant is the [[rhizome]]. Twin clusters of small white flowers bloom about 90 days after planting. The plant rarely produces seeds and reproduction is typically by planting part of a rhizome with a bud.  Rhizomes are ready for harvesting 10–12 months after planting as the leaves of the plant begin to wilt and die. The rhizomes are fleshy, cylindrical, and grow from {{convert|20|cm|inch|0|abbr=on}} to {{convert|45|cm|inch|0|abbr=on}} long.<ref>''Root Crops'', NRI, 1987. http://www.nzdl.org/gsdlmod?e=q-00000-00---off-0fnl2%2e2--00-0----0-10-0---0---0direct-10---4-----sti--0-1l--11-en-50---20-about-root+crops+--00-0-1-00-0--4----0-0-11-10-0utfZz-8-00&a=d&c=fnl2.2&srp=0&srn=0&cl=search&d=HASHd8d905db1c6eae0daee48f.22 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170510160342/http://www.nzdl.org/gsdlmod?e=q-00000-00---off-0fnl2%2e2--00-0----0-10-0---0---0direct-10---4-----sti--0-1l--11-en-50---20-about-root+crops+--00-0-1-00-0--4----0-0-11-10-0utfZz-8-00&a=d&c=fnl2.2&srp=0&srn=0&cl=search&d=HASHd8d905db1c6eae0daee48f.22 |date=10 May 2017 }}; FAO, "Maranta arundinacea",  http://ecocrop.fao.org/ecocrop/srv/en/cropView?id=2335 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170510081857/http://ecocrop.fao.org/ecocrop/srv/en/cropView?id=2335 |date=10 May 2017 }}, accessed 19 February 2016</ref>

The arrowroot plant probably originated in the [[Amazon rainforest]] of northwestern Brazil and neighboring countries. It grows best between temperatures of {{convert|23|C|F}} and {{convert|29|C|F}} with annual precipitation between {{convert|150|cm|inch|0|abbr=on}} and {{convert|200|cm|inch|0|abbr=on}}. The dormant rhizomes can withstand temperatures as low as {{convert|5|C|F}}.<ref>"Maranta arundinacea", http://tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Maranta+arundinacea {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181020053129/http://tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Maranta+arundinacea |date=20 October 2018 }}, accessed 19 February 2016</ref>

In the continental United States, arrowroot is cultivated as an outside plant only in [[South Florida|southern Florida]].<ref>"Arrowroot – "Moscata arundinecea" EDIS, University of Florida, https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/mv009 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210125033216/https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/mv009 |date=25 January 2021 }}, accessed 19 February 2016</ref>

==Distribution==
''Maranta arundinacea'' is native to Mexico, Central America, the West Indies ([[Cuba]], [[Hispaniola]], [[Puerto Rico]], and most of the [[Lesser Antilles]]) and South America (in Brazil, [[Peru]], [[Ecuador]], [[Colombia]], [[Venezuela]], [[Suriname]], [[Guyana]], and [[French Guiana]]).<ref name="GRIN" /> It is widely cultivated in many warm countries and is considered naturalized in [[The Bahamas]], [[Bermuda]], [[Cambodia]], China ([[Guangdong]], [[Guangxi]], [[Hainan]], [[Yunnan]]), the [[Cook Islands]], [[Equatorial Guinea]], [[Gabon]], India, Indonesia, [[Jamaica]], Japan (in the [[Volcano Islands]]), [[Mauritius]], the [[Netherlands Antilles]], [[Réunion]], [[Samoa]], [[Sri Lanka]], [[Taiwan]], [[Trinidad and Tobago]], [[Tonga]], the United States ([[Florida]]), the Philippines and [[Vanuatu]].<ref name=POWO/><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=200028493|title=Flora of China v 24, p 382, ''Maranta arundinacea''|access-date=25 December 2012|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304082501/http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=200028493|url-status=live}}</ref>

The Caribbean island nation of [[St. Vincent and the Grenadines]] is the world's largest grower of arrowroot and producer of arrowroot flour.<ref>"Root Crops"</ref> 
In [[Kerala]], India, arrowroot, locally called ബിലാത്തി കൂവ (Bilathi Kūva), is cultivated to produce an easily digestible starch.,<ref>"Koova (arrowroot), http://papanasini.blogspot.com/2014/01/koova.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160315073601/http://papanasini.blogspot.com/2014/01/koova.html |date=15 March 2016 }}, accessed 21 February 2016</ref> while in [[Odisha]], India, it's called ପାଳୁଅ (Paḷua).

==Prehistoric domestication==
[[Radio-carbon dating]] has established that ''M. arundinacea'' was one of the first plants domesticated in prehistoric South America. Arrowroot, along with leren (''[[Goeppertia allouia]]''), [[squash (plant)|squash]] (''[[Cucurbita moschata]]''), and bottle gourd (''[[Lagenaria siceraria]]'') became cultivated plants in northern South American and [[Panama]] between 8200 BC and 5600 BC.<ref>Piperno, Dolores R. (Oct 2011), "The Origins of Plant Cultivation and Domestication in the New World Tropics", ''Current Anthropology'', Vol 52, No. 54, p. S 459.  Downloaded from [[JSTOR]].</ref> Some archaeologists believe that arrowroot was first used by indigenous peoples not as food but as a poultice to extract poison from wounds caused by spears or arrows.<ref>Piperno, Dolores R. and Pearsall, Deborah M. (1998), ''The Origins of Agriculture in the Lowland Neotropics,'' San Diego: Academic Press, p. 115, 199</ref>

Evidence of the use of arrowroot as food has been found dating from 8200 BC at the San Isidro archaeological site in the upper [[Cauca River]] valley of Colombia near the city of [[Popayán]]. Starch grains from arrowroot were found on grinding tools. It is unclear whether the arrowroot had been gathered or grown, although the elevation of the site of {{convert|1700|m|ft}} is probably outside the normal range of elevations at which ''M. arundinacea'' grows in the wild. Thus, the plant may have been introduced at San Isidro from nearby lowland rainforest areas in a pioneering effort to cultivate it. Stone hoes for the cultivation of plants have been found which date as old as 7700 BCE in the middle Cauca valley, {{convert|150|km|mi}} north of San Isidro.<ref>Piperno and Pearsall, pp. 199–203</ref>

Domestication of arrowroot at these early dates was probably on a small scale with gardens of only a few plants being planted in alluvial soils near streams to ensure the steady supply of moisture needed during the growing season of arrowroot and other similar root crops. The exploitation of arrowroot was probably complicated by the difficulty of extracting the starch from the fibrous roots. The roots must first be pounded or ground then soaked in water to separate the starch from the fibers. The starch is excellent for digestibility.<ref>Piperno and Pearsall, pp 115, 202</ref>

==Uses==
Currently, arrowroot starch is used in food preparations and confectionery, and for industrial applications such as cosmetics and glue. The residue of starch extraction has a high fibre content and can be fed to livestock.<ref>Heuzé V., Tran G., 2017. Arrowroot (Maranta arundinacea). Feedipedia, a programme by INRA, CIRAD, AFZ and FAO. https://www.feedipedia.org/node/545 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210123231442/https://www.feedipedia.org/node/545 |date=23 January 2021 }} Last updated on 17 July 2017, 14:10</ref>

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Arrowrootഃ plant flower 04.jpg|Arrowroot flower
</gallery>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==

{{commons category|Maranta arundinacea}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q767103}}

[[Category:Maranta (plant)|arundinacea]]
[[Category:Root vegetables]]
[[Category:Crops originating from the Americas]]
[[Category:House plants]]
[[Category:Economy of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines]]
[[Category:Plants described in 1753]]
[[Category:Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus]]
[[Category:Flora of Mexico]]
[[Category:Flora of Southern America]]
[[Category:Early agriculture in Mesoamerica]]
[[Category:Crops originating from South America]]
[[Category:Tropical agriculture]]
[[Category:Native American cuisine]]
[[Category:Edible plants]]