What is "tuckahoe"

Tuckahoe \Tuck"a*hoe\, n. [North American Indian, bread.] (Bot.) A curious vegetable production of the Southern Atlantic United States, growing under ground like a truffle and often attaining immense size. The real nature is unknown. Called also Indian bread, and Indian loaf.

edible plant root of eastern U.S., 1610s, American English, from Powhatan (Algonquian) tockawhouge (compare Mohegan tquogh, Shawnee tukwhah), perhaps related to Cree (Algonquian) pitikwaw "made round." From early 19c. a name applied in Virginia to those east of the Blue Ridge Mountains by the settlers west of them, who called themselves Cohees.

n. 1 Any edible root of a plant used by Native Americans of colonial-era Virginia. 2 # The wild potato, the arrow arum, (taxlink Peltandra virginica species noshow=1). 3 (context uncommon US Virginia dialect largely obsolete English) A person, especially if poor and malnourished (or if implied to be), living east of Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains. 4 The sclerotium of the wood-decay fungus (taxlink Wolfiporia extensa species noshow=1), used by Native Americans and the Chinese as food and as a herbal medicine.

n. perennial herb of the eastern United States having arrowhead-shaped leaves and an elongate pointed spathe and green berries [syn: green arrow arum, Peltandra virginica]

In Eastern Algonkian languages, the word tuckahoe was used for several edible plants, as well as an edible subterranean fungus.

• Peltandra virginica, also called Green arrow arum or Tuckahoe, the rhizome was cooked and used as food by Native Americans
• Orontium aquaticum, also called Golden-club or Tuckahoe, the seeds and rhizome were used as food by Native Americans

• Wolfiporia extensa, also called Poria cocos, Tuckahoe, or Indian Bread; the sclerotium of a fungus used as food by Native Americans and by the Chinese as a medicinal

Tuckahoe may also refer to Tuckahoe-Cohee, an early colonial American cultural sub-group in Virginia and the Carolinas.

The Native American word has been used as a place name:

• Tuckahoe Plantation, boyhood home of Thomas Jefferson, in Virginia
• Tuckahoe (Jensen Beach, Florida), or the Leach Mansion, in Jensen Beach, Florida

• Tuckahoe Bay, in South Carolina
• Tuckahoe Creek, in Maryland
• Tuckahoe River (New Jersey)

• Tuckahoe, New Jersey, an unincorporated community in Upper Township in Cape May County
• Tuckahoe (village), New York, a village in Westchester County
  • Tuckahoe (Metro-North station), railroad station in the village
• Tuckahoe, Suffolk County, New York, a hamlet in Suffolk County
• Tuckahoe, Virginia, a census-designated place in Henrico County
• Tuckahoe, West Virginia, an unincorporated community

• Tuckahoe State Park, in Maryland

• Camp Tuckahoe, a Boy Scouts of America camp in Pennsylvania

The Tuckahoe Metro-North Railroad station serves the residents of the village of Tuckahoe, New York via the Harlem Line. It is 16 miles (25.7 km) from Grand Central Terminal. As of August 2006, daily commuter ridership was 1,378 and there are 314 parking spots. This station is located in the Zone 3 Metro-North fare zone.

Tuckahoe, also known as Tuckahoe Plantation, is located on Route 650 near Manakin, Virginia overlapping both Goochland and Henrico counties. It was declared a historic district and a National Historic Landmark in 1969.

Tuckahoe, also known as the '''Leach Mansion ''' or as the Mansion at Tuckahoe, is an historic home located at 1921 North East Indian River Drive in Jensen Beach, Martin County, Florida. The name was thought to be a Native American word for "welcome". It is inside the present day Indian RiverSide Park and is atop the Mount Elizabeth Archeological Site, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places on September 14, 2002.

On November 30, 2005, Tuckahoe itself was added to the National Register of Historic Places. On November 4, 2010, the local Daughters of the American Revolution chapter placed a plaque on the building.