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 (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

s in the order

Dioscoreales The Dioscoreales are an order of monocotyledonous flowering plants, organized under modern classification systems, such as the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group or the Angiosperm Phylogeny Web. Among monocot plants, Dioscoreales are grouped with the ...

, native to tropical regions of

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Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

, and various

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islands. 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 phylogenetics, molecular-based, list of systems of plant taxonomy, system of plant taxonomy that ...

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 The APG III system of flowering plant classification is the third version of a modern, mostly molecular-based, system of plant taxonomy being developed by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG). Published in 2009, it was superseded in 2016 by a fur ...

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 publish ...

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'' 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. 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 pin ...

'' 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'' ima ...

'' Ridl. - Borneo * '' Tacca celebica'' Koord. - Sulawesi * ''

Tacca chantrieri 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 Oceania, Oceanic islands. In o ...

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

Tacca integrifolia ''Tacca integrifolia'', also known as the white batflower or the black lily, is a species of flowering plant in the family Dioscoreaceae. It is native to tropical and subtropical rainforests in hilly regions of South Asia, including Pakistan, Ban ...

'' 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 the islands of Southeast Asia. Austronesian peoples introduced it as a canoe plant throughout the Indo-Pacific tropics during prehisto ...

'' (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'' Blume - Indonesia, Indochina, Malaysia, Philippines, New Guinea * '' Tacca palmatifida'' Baker - Sulawesi * '' Tacca parkeri'' 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 text ...

'' (Hance) Drenth, 1972 - Indochina, southern China * '' Tacca reducta'' 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 text ...

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

Synonyms A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means precisely 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 a ...

: * '' Tacca lanceolata''

Spruce A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' ( ), a genus of about 40 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal ecosystem, boreal (taiga) regions of the Northern hemisphere. ''Picea'' ...

- 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 th ...

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. ''

'' 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

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. {{Authority control Dioscoreaceae Dioscoreales genera