Tacca
| Bat flowers | |
|---|---|
 | |
| White Bat Flower (Tacca integrifolia) | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Monocots |
| Order: | Dioscoreales |
| Family: | Dioscoreaceae |
| Genus: | Tacca J.R.Forst. & G.Forst. |
| Synonyms[1] | |
| |
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.[1] In older texts, the genus was treated in its own family Taccaceae, but the 2003 APG II system incorporates it into the family Dioscoreaceae.[2]
Cultivated varieties
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. Tacca integrifolia is known as the purple or white batflower. Other cultivated varieties include the arrowroot, T. leontopetaloides, and T. cristata aspera.[3][4]
Species
There are at least 17 species,[5]
- Tacca ampliplacenta L.Zhang & Q.J.Li - Yunnan
- Tacca ankaranensis Bard.-Vauc., 1997 - Madagascar
- Tacca bibracteata 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 Drenth - Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands
- Tacca integrifolia Ker Gawl., 1812 - Tibet, Bhutan, Assam, Bangladesh, Indochina, India, Pakistan, Java, Malaysia, Sumatra, Borneo
- Tacca lanceolata Spruce - Brazil, Venezuela
- 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 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
Gallery
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Black bat flower, Tacca chantrieri, close-up of flower
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Tacca cristata, flowering
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Ankarana arrowroot, Tacca ankaranensis, flower
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Polynesian arrowroot, Tacca leontopetaloides, mature plants
References
- 1 2 Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
- ↑ Caddick, L. R., P. Wilkin, P. J. Rudall, T. A. J. Hedderson & M. W. Chase. 2002. Yams reclassified: a recircumscription of Dioscoreaceae and Dioscoreales. Taxon 51(1): 103–114.
- ↑ Govaerts, R., Wilkin, P. & Saunders, R.M.K. (2007). World Checklist of Dioscoreales. Yams and their allies: 1-65. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ Te Plant List: Tacca
External links
- Germplasm Resources Information Network: Tacca
- Taccaceae in L. Watson and M.J. Dallwitz (1992 onwards), The families of flowering plants
- Huxley, A., ed. (1992). New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. Macmillan.
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