The genus ''Tacca'', which includes the batflowers and arrowroot, consists of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

s in the order

Dioscoreales The Dioscoreales are an order of monocotyledonous flowering plants in modern classification systems, such as the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group and the Angiosperm Phylogeny Web. Within the monocots Dioscoreales are grouped in the lilioid monocots w ...

, native to tropical regions of

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Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

, Australia,

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainlan ...

, 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 The APG II system (Angiosperm Phylogeny Group II system) of plant classification is the second, now obsolete, version of a modern, mostly molecular-based, system of plant taxonomy that was published in April 2003 by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Gr ...

incorporates it into the family

Dioscoreaceae Dioscoreaceae () is a family of monocotyledonous flowering plants, with about 715 known species in nine genera. The best-known member of the family is the yam (some species of ''Dioscorea''). The APG system (1998) and APG II system (2003) both ...

. The

APG III APG is an abbreviation with several different meanings: * Aberdeen Proving Ground, a United States Army installation in Aberdeen, Maryland, also ** Phillips Army Airfield, the airfield of the above, from its IATA airport code * Aboriginal Provisiona ...

and

APG IV system The APG IV system of flowering plant classification is the fourth version of a modern, mostly molecular-based, system of plant taxonomy for flowering plants (angiosperms) being developed by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG). It was published ...

s 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 (vegetable), yam family Dioscoreaceae, which is endemic to Yunnan, China. It was discovered Yunnan, China. It was first described in 2008 by Ling Zhang and Qing-Jun Li. Descri ...

'' L.Zhang & Q.J.Li - Yunnan * '' Tacca ankaranensis'' Bard.-Vauc., 1997 - Madagascar * ''

Tacca bibracteata ''Tacca bibracteata'' is a plant in the Dioscoreaceae family, native to Sarawak Sarawak (; ) is a state of Malaysia. The largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak is located in northwe ...

'' Drenth - Sarawak * '' Tacca borneensis'' Ridl. - Borneo * '' Tacca celebica'' Koord. - Sulawesi * '' Tacca chantrieri'' André, 1901 - Indochina, Assam, Bangladesh, Tibet, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Hunan, Yunnan * ''

Tacca ebeltajae ''Tacca ebeltajae'' is a plant in the Dioscoreaceae Dioscoreaceae () is a family of monocotyledonous flowering plants, with about 715 known species in nine genera. The best-known member of the family is the yam (some species of ''Dioscorea'') ...

'' Drenth - Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands * '' Tacca integrifolia'' Ker Gawl., 1812 - Tibet, Bhutan, Assam, Bangladesh, Indochina, India, Pakistan, Java, Malaysia, Sumatra, Borneo * ''

Tacca leontopetaloides ''Tacca leontopetaloides'' is a species of flowering plant in the yam family Dioscoreaceae. It is native to Island Southeast Asia but have been introduced as canoe plants throughout the Indo-Pacific tropics by Austronesian peoples during preh ...

'' (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 ''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 ...

'' Seem., 1866 - Western Australia, Northern Territory, Fiji, Samoa * '' Tacca palmata'' Blume - Indonesia, Indochina, Malaysia, Philippines, New Guinea * '' Tacca palmatifida'' Baker - Sulawesi * '' Tacca parkeri'' Seem. - South America * '' Tacca plantaginea'' (Hance) Drenth, 1972 - Indochina, southern China * '' Tacca reducta'' P.C.Boyce & S.Julia - Sarawak, Borneo, Malesia * '' Tacca subflabellata'' P.P. Ling & C.T. Ting, 1982 - Yunnan : Synonyms: * '' Tacca lanceolata'' Spruce - Brazil, Venezuela = '' Tacca parkeri'' Seem.

Cultivation

Several species are cultivated as

ornamental plant Ornamental plants or garden plants are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars that ...

s 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. '' Tacca integrifolia'' 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''

Mirima National Park Mirima National Park also commonly known as Hidden Valley National Park is a National Park in far northern Western Australia located at the eastern side of the Kimberley region. It is located approximately from Perth just outside the township of ...

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