{{Short description|Genus of flowering plants}} {{About|the plant genus|other uses|Tacca (disambiguation)}} {{Italic title}} {{Automatic taxobox |name = Bat flowers |image = White bat flower.jpg |image_caption = White Bat Flower (''Tacca integrifolia'') |taxon = Tacca |authority = J.R.Forst. & G.Forst. |synonyms = * ''Leontopetaloides'' <small>Boehm</small> * ''Ataccia'' <small>C.Presl</small> * ''Chaitaea'' <small>Sol. ex Seem.</small> * ''Schizocapsa'' <small>Hance</small> |synonyms_ref = <ref name="POWO">{{cite web|url=https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:38964-1 |title= ''Tacca'' J.R.Forst. & G.Forst |date=2023 |website=Plants of the World Online |publisher= Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew |access-date=15 March 2023 }}</ref> }}
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.<ref name="POWO"/> In older texts, the genus was treated in its own family '''Taccaceae''', but the 2003 APG II system incorporates it into the family Dioscoreaceae.<ref>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.</ref> The APG III and APG IV systems continue to include ''Tacca'' in Dioscoreaceae.<ref name=APGIII/><ref name=APGIV/>
== Description == Many ''Tacca'' species have nearly black flowers, with conspicuous involucral bracts and bracteoles like whiskers.<ref>{{Cite Q|Q39626349}}cite Q</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite Q|Q96027961}}</ref>
==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.{{sfn|Dahlgren|Clifford|1982}}
=== Subdivision === There are at least 16 species,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.catalogueoflife.org/annual-checklist/2017/browse/tree/id/8c91d06e7094579cfb8fea9f8f4b97b0 |title=Catalogue of Life: 2017 Annual Checklist Tacca |access-date=2017-05-29 |archive-date=2023-08-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230801032704/http://www.catalogueoflife.org/annual-checklist/2017/browse/tree/id/8c91d06e7094579cfb8fea9f8f4b97b0 |url-status=dead }}</ref> * ''Tacca ampliplacenta'' <small>L.Zhang & Q.J.Li</small> - Yunnan * ''Tacca ankaranensis'' <small>Bard.-Vauc., 1997</small> - Madagascar * ''Tacca bibracteata'' <small>Drenth</small> - Sarawak * ''Tacca borneensis'' <small>Ridl.</small> - Borneo * ''Tacca celebica'' <small>Koord.</small> - Sulawesi * ''Tacca chantrieri'' <small>André, 1901</small> - Indochina, Assam, Bangladesh, Tibet, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Hunan, Yunnan * ''Tacca ebeltajae'' <small>Drenth</small> - Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands * ''Tacca integrifolia'' <small>Ker Gawl., 1812</small> - Tibet, Bhutan, Assam, Bangladesh, Indochina, India, Pakistan, Java, Malaysia, Sumatra, Borneo * ''Tacca leontopetaloides'' <small>(L.) Kuntze, 1891</small> - widespread across tropical Africa, Madagascar, Indian Subcontinent, Southeast Asia, New Guinea, Australia, and various islands of the Indian and Pacific Oceans * ''Tacca maculata'' <small>Seem., 1866</small> - Western Australia, Northern Territory, Fiji, Samoa * ''Tacca palmata'' <small>Blume</small> - Indonesia, Indochina, Malaysia, Philippines, New Guinea * ''Tacca palmatifida'' <small>Baker</small> - Sulawesi * ''Tacca parkeri'' <small>Seem.</small> - South America * ''Tacca plantaginea'' <small>(Hance) Drenth, 1972</small> - Indochina, southern China * ''Tacca reducta'' <small>P.C.Boyce & S.Julia</small> - Sarawak, Borneo, Malesia * ''Tacca subflabellata'' <small>P.P. Ling & C.T. Ting, 1982</small> - Yunnan : Synonyms: * ''Tacca lanceolata'' <small>Spruce</small> - Brazil, Venezuela = ''Tacca parkeri'' <small>Seem.</small><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.catalogueoflife.org/annual-checklist/2017/details/species/id/24bb97b8eedf12a35bfff432ab11a23a/synonym/c17799acd941bd393e1e7c04ce9c7e82 |title=Catalogue (2017) |access-date=2017-05-29 |archive-date=2023-08-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230801032703/http://www.catalogueoflife.org/annual-checklist/2017/details/species/id/24bb97b8eedf12a35bfff432ab11a23a/synonym/c17799acd941bd393e1e7c04ce9c7e82 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>[http://www.tropicos.org/Name/31000014 Tropicos]</ref>
==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'''. ''Tacca integrifolia'' is known as the '''purple''' or '''white batflower'''. Other cultivated varieties include the '''arrowroot''', ''T. leontopetaloides'', and ''T. cristata aspera''.<ref>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.</ref><ref>[http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=132180 Flora of China, Vol. 24 Page 274, <big>蒟蒻薯属</big> ju ruo shu shu, ''Tacca'' J. R. Forster & G. Forster, Char. Gen. Pl. 35. 1775. ]</ref>
==Gallery== <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 </gallery>
==References== {{Reflist|refs= <ref name=APGIII>{{Cite journal|author=Angiosperm Phylogeny Group |year=2009|title=An update of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification for the orders and families of flowering plants: APG III|journal=Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society|volume=161|issue=2|pages=105–121|issn=0024-4074|doi=10.1111/j.1095-8339.2009.00996.x |doi-access=free|hdl=10654/18083|hdl-access=free}}</ref>
<ref name=APGIV>{{Cite journal|author=Angiosperm Phylogeny Group |year=2016|title=An update of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification for the orders and families of flowering plants: APG IV|journal=Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society|volume=181|issue=1|pages=1–20|issn=0024-4074|doi=10.1111/boj.12385|doi-access=free}}</ref> }}
== Bibliography == {{Commons category}} {{Wikispecies}} {{Refbegin}} * {{cite book |last1=Dahlgren |first1=Rolf |last2=Clifford |first2=H. T. |title=The monocotyledons: A comparative study |url={{Google books|coXwAAAAMAAJ|plainurl=yes}} |year=1982 |location=London and New York |publisher=Academic Press }} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20150924075424/http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/splist.pl?11828 Germplasm Resources Information Network: ''Tacca''] * [https://archive.today/20120529173550/http://delta-intkey.com/angio/www/taccacea.htm Taccaceae] in L. Watson and M.J. Dallwitz (1992 onwards), [http://delta-intkey.com/angio/ ''The families of flowering plants''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070103200438/http://delta-intkey.com/angio/ |date=2007-01-03 }} * Huxley, A., ed. (1992). ''New RHS Dictionary of Gardening''. Macmillan. {{Refend}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q311670}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Dioscoreaceae Category:Dioscoreales genera