View source for Tacca

{{SPlantbox
|familia=Dioscoreaceae
|genus=Tacca
|habit=herbaceous
|lifespan=perennial
|features=flowers, foliage
|flowers=purple, brown, black
|Temp Metric=°F
|image=White bat flower.jpg
|image_width=240
|image_caption=White Bat Flower (''Tacca integrifolia'')
}}
''Tacca'' is a genus of ten species of [[flowering plant]]s in the order [[Dioscoreales]], native to tropical regions of [[Africa]], Australia, and south-eastern [[Asia]]. 

Several species are cultivated as [[ornamental plant]]s for their bold foliage and large flowers.

{{Inc|
Tacca (Malayan name). Syn., Ataccia. Perennial herbs from a tuberous or creeping rhizome, adapted to the warmhouse.

Leaves radical, large, petioled, sometimes undivided and entire, sometimes variously lobed or dissected: fls. at the top of erect leafless scapes in dense umbels, lurid brown or greenish; perianth 6-lobed in 2 rows; stamens 6; ovary inferior, 1-celled: fr. globose, ovoid, turbinate or elongated, usually 3-cornered or 6-ribbed, berry-like and indehiscent, rarely finally 3-valved.—About 13 species in the tropics of both hemispheres. The fl.- cluster is subtended by a few, usually 4, leaf-like or colored bracts, and intermixed with the fls. are more or less numerous, long and conspicuous, sterile, filiform pedicels, which usually droop below the fl.-cluster. Taccaceae contains only one other genus, Schizocapsa.
{{SCH}}
}}

==Cultivation==
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===Propagation===
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===Pests and diseases===
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==Species==
Selected species
*''[[Tacca chantrieri]]'' André - Bat flower
*''[[Tacca flabellata]]'' J.J.Sm.
*''[[Tacca integrifolia]]'' Ker Gawl.
*''[[Tacca leontopetaloides]]'' Kuntze
*''[[Tacca palmata]]'' Blume
*''[[Tacca plantaginea]]'' (Hance) Drenth

In older texts, the genus was treated in its own family '''Taccaceae''', but the 2003 [[APG II system]] incorporates it into the family [[Dioscoreaceae]].

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Tacca chantrieriRHu00.JPG|''Tacca chantrieri''<br>in Thailand
File:Tacca chantrieriRHu02.JPG|''Tacca chantrieri''<br>close-up of the flower
File:Tacca chantrieriRHu2.JPG|''Tacca chantrieri''<br>fruits
</gallery>

==References==
*[[Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture]], by L. H. Bailey, MacMillan Co., 1963
<!--- xxxxx  *Flora: The Gardener's Bible, by Sean Hogan. Global Book Publishing, 2003. ISBN 0881925381  -->
<!--- xxxxx  *American Horticultural Society: A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants, by Christopher Brickell, Judith D. Zuk. 1996. ISBN 0789419432  -->
<!--- xxxxx  *Sunset National Garden Book. Sunset Books, Inc., 1997. ISBN 0376038608  -->

==External links==
*{{wplink}}

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