Root vegetable

Root vegetables are underground plant parts used as vegetables. They are called root vegetables for lack of a better generic term, but include both true roots such as tuberous roots and taproots, as well as non-roots such as tubers, rhizomes, corms, and bulbs. Several types contain both taproot and hypocotyl tissue, and it may be difficult to distinguish the two.

Regardless of anatomical type, root vegetables are generally storage organs, enlarged to store energy in the form of carbohydrates. They differ in the concentration and the balance between sugars, starches, and other types of carbohydrate.

Of particular economic importance are those with a high carbohydrate concentration in the form of starch. These starchy root vegetables are important staple foods, particularly in tropical regions. They overshadow the cereals throughout much of West Africa, Central Africa, and Oceania, where they are used directly or mashed to make foufou or poi.

According to 2004 FAO statistics [1], the most important starchy root vegetables by world-wide production (in million metric tons) are:

Potato

328

Cassava

203

Sweet potato

127

Yams

Taro

All others

South America has been a particularly fertile ground in the domestication of root vegetables, giving the world the ahipa, arracacha, canna, cassava, maca, malanga, mashua, mauka, oca, potato, sweet potato, ulluco, and yacón.

List of root vegetables by anatomical type

Turnip taproot and hypocotyl

Cassava tuberous roots

Taro corms

Yam tubers

Shallot bulbs

True root
- Taproot (some types may incorporate substantial hypocotyl tissue)
  - Apium graveolens (celeriac)
  - Arctium spp. ( burdock or gobo)
  - Arracacia xanthorrhiza (arracacha)
  - Beta vulgaris (beet and mangelwurzel)
  - Brassica spp. ( rutabaga and turnip)
  - Bunium persicum (black cumin)
  - Daucus carota (carrot)
  - Lepidium meyenii (maca)
  - Pachyrhizus spp. (jicama and ahipa)
  - Pastinaca sativa (parsnip)
  - Petroselinum spp. (parsley root)
  - Raphanus sativus ( daikon and radish)
  - Scorzonera hispanica ( black salsify
  - Sium sisarum ( skirret)
  - Tragopogon spp. ( salsify)
- Tuberous root
  - Conopodium majus (pignut or earthnut)
  - Ipomoea batatas (sweet potato)
  - Manihot esculenta (cassava)
  - Mirabilis extensa ( mauka or chago)
  - Psoralea esculenta (breadroot, tipsin, or prairie turnip)
  - Sechium edule ( chayote)
  - Smallanthus sonchifolius ( yacón)
Modified stem
- Corm
  - Amorphophallus konjac ( konjac)
  - Colocasia esculenta ( taro)
  - Eleocharis dulcis (chinese water chestnut)
  - Ensete spp. (enset)
  - Erythronium spp. ( katakuri)
  - Sagittaria spp. (arrowhead or wapatoo)
  - Xanthosoma spp. (malanga, cocoyam, tannia, and other names)
- Rhizome
  - Arthropodium spp. (rengarenga, vanilla lily, and others)
  - Canna spp. ( canna)
  - Cordyline fruticosa ( ti)
  - Raphanus sativus (radish)
  - Maranta arundinacea ( arrowroot)
  - Nelumbo nucifera (lotus root)
  - Typha spp. (cattail or bulrush)
- Tuber
  - Apios americana (hog potato or groundnut)
  - Cyperus esculentus ( tigernut or chufa)
  - Dioscorea spp. ( yam)
  - Dioscorea alata. ( Purple Yam (Ube))
  - Hemerocallis spp. ( daylily)
  - Helianthus tuberosus ( jerusalem artichoke or sunchoke)
  - Lathyrus tuberosus (earthnut pea)
  - Oxalis tuberosa (oca or New Zealand yam)
  - Solanum tuberosum (potato)
  - Plectranthus spp. (kembili, dazo, and others)
  - Stachys affinis ( chinese artichoke or crosne)
  - Tropaeolum tuberosum (mashua or añu)
  - Ullucus tuberosus (ulluco)
Other
- Bulb
  - Allium spp. (garlic, onion, shallot, et cetera)
  - Camassia quamash ( quamash)
  - Lilium spp. (lilies)