Cassava

Description

Cassava is a perennial plant with conspicuous, almost palmate (fan-shaped) leaves resembling those of the related castor-oil plant but more deeply parted into five to nine lobes. The fleshy roots are reminiscent of dahlia tubers. Different varieties range from low herbs to branching shrubs and slender unbranched trees.
The cassava root is long and tapered, with a firm, homogeneous flesh encased in a detachable rind, about 1 millimetre (1⁄*6 inch) thick, rough and brown on the outside. Commercial cultivars can be 5 to *0 centimetres (2 to 4 in) in diameter at the top, and around *5 to *0 cm (6 to *2 in) long.