tuckahoe

Meanings

1. The edible root of a plant of species Peltandra virginica, used by Native Americans of colonial-era Virginia.
2. A person, especially if poor and malnourished (or if implied to be), living east of Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains.
3. The sclerotium of wood-decay fungi of species Wolfiporia extensa, used by Native Americans and the Chinese as food and as a herbal medicine.
4. The flowering plant Orontium aquaticum.

1. Alternative form of tuckahoe (“person living east of Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains”).

Etymology

From Powhatan tockawhoughe. The "person" sense implies that such a person was so poor as to be reduced to eating the root.