Taccaceae

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Taccaceae >



Read about Taccaceae in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture 

Taccaceae (from the genus Tacca, from the Malay name). Tacca Family. Fig. 12. Herbaceous plants: leaves large, entire, or commonly pinnatifid or bipinnatifid, all basal: flowers saucer- or urn-shaped, bisexual, regular, epigynous; perianth of 6 nearly separate similar parts in 2 series; stamens 6, borne on the base of the perianth ; filaments queerly broadened and cucullate; ovary inferior, 1-celled, or incompletely 3- celled; ovules numerous; placentae parietal; style umbrella-like, the terminal disk variously lobed, and bearing the peculiar stigmatic pores beneath: fruit a capsule or berry; seed albuminous.

Taccaceae has 2 genera and 10 species, inhabitants of the tropics of both hemispheres, mostly of the Malay archipelago. A very distinct family of doubtful relationship, even suggesting several Dicotyledonous families, but probably close to the Dioscoriaceae and Amaryllidaceae. The acaulescent habit, the epigynous bisexual flowers, the six queer stamens, and the 1-celled, many-ovuled ovary, are together distinctive.

Several species of Tacca, e. g., T. pinnatifida, possess tubers from which a starchy meal, called arrowroot, is made in the East. Straw hats are made from the stems of Tacca by the Tahitians.

Tacca pinnatifida and T. cristata are cultivated sparingly in America.CH


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