Birah - Alocasia macrorrhiza

Alocasia macrorrhiza
ARACEAE, Arum family
birah, senteh
Sri Lanka? Naturalized through the tropics. Toxic & must be cooked to remove poison. Treats TB, fever, typhoid, snake & insect bites. Stems famine food. Gimlette: the juice relieves stings of giant nettle (Laportia), & Skeat: leaves for magic cure. Ornamental, but Burkill says 'it is scarcely this'.