The genus ''Tacca'', which includes the batflowers and arrowroot, consists of flowering plants in the order Dioscoreales, native to tropical regions of South America, Africa,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, Southeast Asia, and various oceanic islands.Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
/ref> In older texts, the genus was treated in its own family Taccaceae, but the 2003 APG II system incorporates it into the family Dioscoreaceae. The APG III and APG IV systems continue to include ''Tacca'' in Dioscoreaceae.

Description

Many ''Tacca'' species have nearly black flowers, with conspicuous involucral bracts and bracteoles like whiskers. Engbert Drenth hypothesized that species of this genus attracted "carrion and dung flies" for pollination and that the fleshy seam of the seed might be attractive to ants and hence that ants might aid in seed dispersal.

Taxonomy

Earlier classifications placed the genus within the monogeneric family Taccaceae, which in turn was the sole family in the order Taccales. Dahlgren recognised the similarities to the genera within the Dioscoreales, and incorporated the family into that order.

Subdivision

There are at least 16 species, * ''

Tacca ampliplacenta ''Tacca ampliplacenta'' is a species of flowering plant in the yam family Dioscoreaceae, which is endemic to Yunnan, China. It was discovered Yunnan Yunnan , () is a landlocked Provinces of China, province in Southwest China, the south ...

'' L.Zhang & Q.J.Li - Yunnan * ''

Tacca ankaranensis ''Tacca ankaranensis'' is a species of flowering plant in the Yam (vegetable), yam family Dioscoreaceae, which is endemic to Madagascar. It was discovered on the Ankarana Reserve, Ankarana massif in far northern Madagascar. It was first describ ...

'' Bard.-Vauc., 1997 - Madagascar * ''

Tacca bibracteata ''Tacca bibracteata'' is a plant in the Dioscoreaceae family, native to Sarawak. It was first described by Engbert Drenth in 1908. Description ''Tacca bibracteata'' has 6-7 entire oblong leaves with attenuate bases and acuminate apices, and pi ...

'' Drenth - Sarawak * ''

Tacca borneensis ''Tacca borneensis'' is a plant in the Dioscoreaceae family, native to west Borneo. It was first described by Henry Nicholas Ridley in 1908. Description Ridley describes the plant as: References External links ''Tacca borneensis'' imag ...

'' Ridl. - Borneo * ''

Tacca celebica The genus ''Tacca'', which includes the batflowers and arrowroot, consists of flowering plants in the order Dioscoreales, native to tropical regions of South America, Africa, Australia, Southeast Asia, and various oceanic islands. In older texts ...

'' Koord. - Sulawesi * ''

Tacca chantrieri ''Tacca chantrieri'' is a species of flowering plant in the yam family Dioscoreaceae. It is commonly called the black bat flower. It was first described in 1901 by Édouard André Édouard François André (17 July 1840 – 25 October ...

'' André, 1901 - Indochina, Assam, Bangladesh, Tibet, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Hunan, Yunnan * '' Tacca ebeltajae '' Drenth - Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands * ''

Tacca integrifolia ''Tacca integrifolia'', the white batflower, is a species of flowering plant in the yam family, Dioscoreaceae, native to tropical and subtropical rainforests of Asia. It was first described by the English botanist John Bellenden Ker Gawler in 18 ...

'' Ker Gawl., 1812 - Tibet, Bhutan, Assam, Bangladesh, Indochina, India, Pakistan, Java, Malaysia, Sumatra, Borneo * '' Tacca leontopetaloides'' (L.) Kuntze, 1891 - widespread across tropical Africa, Madagascar, Indian Subcontinent, Southeast Asia, New Guinea, Australia, and various islands of the Indian and Pacific Oceans * '' Tacca maculata '' Seem., 1866 - Western Australia, Northern Territory, Fiji, Samoa * ''

Tacca palmata ''Tacca palmata'' is a plant in the Dioscoreaceae family, native to Borneo, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Guinea, Philippines, Sulawesi, Sumatra, Thailand, and Vietnam. It was first described by Carl Ludwig Blume in 1827. References Exte ...

'' Blume - Indonesia, Indochina, Malaysia, Philippines, New Guinea * ''

Tacca palmatifida The genus ''Tacca'', which includes the batflowers and arrowroot, consists of flowering plants in the order Dioscoreales, native to tropical regions of South America, Africa, Australia, Southeast Asia, and various oceanic islands. In older texts ...

'' Baker - Sulawesi * ''

Tacca parkeri The genus ''Tacca'', which includes the batflowers and arrowroot, consists of flowering plants in the order Dioscoreales, native to tropical regions of South America, Africa, Australia, Southeast Asia, and various oceanic islands. In older texts ...

'' Seem. - South America * ''

Tacca plantaginea The genus ''Tacca'', which includes the batflowers and arrowroot, consists of flowering plants in the order Dioscoreales, native to tropical regions of South America, Africa, Australia, Southeast Asia, and various oceanic islands. In older texts ...

'' (Hance) Drenth, 1972 - Indochina, southern China * ''

Tacca reducta The genus ''Tacca'', which includes the batflowers and arrowroot, consists of flowering plants in the order Dioscoreales, native to tropical regions of South America, Africa, Australia, Southeast Asia, and various oceanic islands. In older texts ...

'' P.C.Boyce & S.Julia - Sarawak, Borneo, Malesia * ''

Tacca subflabellata The genus ''Tacca'', which includes the batflowers and arrowroot, consists of flowering plants in the order Dioscoreales, native to tropical regions of South America, Africa, Australia, Southeast Asia, and various oceanic islands. In older texts ...

'' P.P. Ling & C.T. Ting, 1982 - Yunnan :

Synonyms A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...

: * ''

Tacca lanceolata The genus ''Tacca'', which includes the batflowers and arrowroot, consists of flowering plants in the order Dioscoreales, native to tropical regions of South America, Africa, Australia, Southeast Asia, and various oceanic islands. In older texts ...

Spruce A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' (), a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal (taiga) regions of the Earth. ''Picea'' is the sole genus in the subfami ...

- Brazil, Venezuela = ''

'' Seem.

Cultivation

Several species are cultivated as ornamental plants for their bold foliage and large flowers. The well-known '' T. chantrieri'' goes by the names of black batflower, bat-head lily, devil flower or cat's whiskers. ''

'' is known as the purple or white batflower. Other cultivated varieties include the arrowroot, '' T. leontopetaloides'', and '' T. cristata aspera''.Flora of China, Vol. 24 Page 274, 蒟蒻薯属 ju ruo shu shu, ''Tacca'' J. R. Forster & G. Forster, Char. Gen. Pl. 35. 1775.
/ref>

Gallery

File:Tacca chantrieriRHu02.JPG, Black bat flower, ''Tacca chantrieri'', close-up of flower File:Tacca cristata.jpg, ''Tacca cristata'', flowering File:Tacca ankaranensis04.JPG, Ankarana arrowroot, ''Tacca ankaranensis'', flower File:Starr 061106-9596 Tacca leontopetaloides.jpg, Polynesian arrowroot, ''Tacca leontopetaloides'', mature plants Mirima NP WA Tacca Maculata 1st report in this area (2).jpg, ''

Tacca maculata ''Tacca maculata'' is a plant in the Dioscoreaceae family, native to Western Australia, the Northern Territory, Fiji and Samoa It was first described by Berthold Carl Seemann in 1866. Description ''Tacca maculata'' has few leaves on petioles ...

'' Mirima National Park

References

Bibliography

*
Germplasm Resources Information Network: ''Tacca''

in L. Watson and M.J. Dallwitz (1992 onwards)
''The families of flowering plants''
* Huxley, A., ed. (1992). ''New RHS Dictionary of Gardening''. Macmillan. {{Taxonbar, from=Q311670 Dioscoreaceae Dioscoreales genera