Page "Tapioca" Paragraph 9

The cassava plant has either red or green branches with blue spindles on them.

The root of the green-branched variant requires treatment to remove linamarin a cyanogenic glycoside occurring naturally in the plant, otherwise it may be converted into cyanide.

Konzo ( also called mantakassa ) is a paralytic disease associated with several weeks of almost exclusive consumption of insufficiently processed bitter cassava.

The toxin found in the root of the red-branched variant is less harmful to humans than the green-branched variety.

Therefore, the root of the red / purple-branched variant can be consumed directly.