Tannia leaves are consumed in many regions of Tropical Americas and Africa. Due to large size and fragility, leaves are subjected to physical wounding during handling. As a result, visual symptoms of yellowing develop at wounding and adjacent tissues. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of mechanical injury on the physiological changes of tannia leaves at damaged tissue and adjacent areas. For this purpose, the lamina of leaves was perforated for several times with a needle. Then, the leaf samples were excised off as follows: a 0.6 cm diameter (circle A), containing the injured area; 1.1 cm O-ring B, around the circle A, 1.6 cm O-ring C, around the B. Control samples were taken from the opposite side of the leaves free of any wounding. Analysis of fresh weight loss and concentration of soluble phenolic compounds were performed after 30 min, 2, 4 and 6 h and the leaf chlorophyll content was determined after 30 min, 24, 48 and 72 h. The mechanical injury increased the postharvest accumulated fresh weight loss by 59.1% on circle A and by 22.6% on O-ring B after 6 h. The injured circle A accumulated 56% more soluble phenolic over the period of 6 h, which can be related to the activation of defense mechanism by the cell. The rate of chlorophyll degradation was not affected by the injury up to 72 h after wounding. Leaf wounding increases fresh weight loss and induces accumulation of soluble phenolic compounds at location of the injury.