Tacca leontopetaloides
Content
Description
Leaves 1-3, broadly obovate, ovate, or oblong-ovate in outline, palmately 3-sect, each of the 3 segments pinnately lobed to dissected, up to 70 by 120 cm;
Inflorescences 1 or 2, 20-40-flowered;
Flowers 6-17 by 6-13 mm, drooping, light yellow, yellowish green or blackish purplish green;
Stamens white or dull yellow to brown or purple;
Ovary 2-5 by 2-4 mm;
Fruit mostly globose, 1.5-2.5 cm ø, but sometimes ellipsoid or ovoid, up to 3.5 by 1.5-2.5 cm, pendulous, pale to darker green, finally pale orange;
Seeds many, ovoid to ellipsoid, flattened, 5-8 by 3-5 by 1.5-3 mm glabrous, yellowish brown, with a spongy white testa, 15-19-ribbed.
Distribution
Asia-Tropical, N. Australia present, Old and New World present, Pacific: Hawaii present; Marquesas (Marquesas present), SE. Asia present, W. Africa present, as far as the Tuamotus present
Widely distributed in the Old and New World from W. Africa through SE. Asia, throughout Malesia, N. Australia to Polynesia (as far as the Tuamotus, Marquesas, and Hawaii). .
Uses
Starch is extracted for making bread, paste, and puddings mixed with other ingredients. Good washing is essential because of the presence of the bitter substance (taccalin) which is said to be poisonous. Tubers are dug when the aerial parts have died off. In India and Polynesia tubers are also used as a medicine against diarrhoea. In Polynesia the fibres of the peduncle are used for making hats and for fishing. Especially in the pacific islands the plant has been cultivated on an extensive scale (see HEYNE, 1927). In cultivated plants the tuber is 5-10 cm long, but whether it may reach the size of a coconut, as is sometimes cited in literature, is doubtful to me.
Notes
In the vegetative state the plant is sometimes confused with equally tuberous species of the Araceous Amorphophallus, but it can immediately be recognized by the ribbed, hollow petiole, which is in Amorphophallus solid, smooth, and mostly flecked. As a matter of fact it was RUMPHIUS, from whom the name Tacca stems, who made this confusion, as MERRILL has revealed in his Interpretation of Rumphian plants ().
The species has a formidable synonymy as local forms have been described in many parts of its very large range. LIMPRICHT (1928) has distinguished some of them as subspecies or varieties and even seven forms he maintained as species. These forms and variations were largely based on leaf characters. In my opinion none of them deserves taxonomical distinction.
The species has a formidable synonymy as local forms have been described in many parts of its very large range. LIMPRICHT (1928) has distinguished some of them as subspecies or varieties and even seven forms he maintained as species. These forms and variations were largely based on leaf characters. In my opinion none of them deserves taxonomical distinction.
Citation
Merr. 1917: Int. Rumph.: 144
LIMPR. 1902: Inaug. Diss. Breslau: 50
TRIM. 1898 – In: Fl. Ceyl.: 273
DRENTH 1972: p. 375. – In: Blumea: pl. 1, f. 1-7, with full synonymy and references.
BAKER f. 1898 – In: Fl. Trop. Afr.: 413
J. R. & G. FORST. 1893 – In: Bot. Mag.: t. 7299, 7300
BAILL. 1894: p. 165. – In: Hist. Pl.: f. 107-110
BAILEY 1898 – In: Queensl. Fl.: 1613
Ridl. 1924 – In: Fl. Mal. Pen.: 309
HAYWARD 1957 – In: Baileya: 85
LIMPR. 1928 – In: Pfl. R.: 26
HEYNE 1927: Nutt. Pl.: 452
PERRIER DE LA BATHIE 1950 – In: Fl. Madag.: with plate
Miq. 1859 – In: Fl. Ind. Bat.: 577
DECNE 1834 – In: NOUV. Ann. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris: 368
Benth. 1873: p. 458. – In: Fl. Austr.: cum var.
GAGNEP. 1934 – In: Fl. Gén. I.-C.: 697
LIMPR. 1902: Inaug. Diss. Breslau: 50
GAGNEP. 1934 – In: Fl. Gén. I.-C.: 697
DARLINGTON & WYLIE 1955: Chrom. Atlas, ed. 2: 403
MANSFELD 1959 – In: Die Kult. Pfl. Beih.: 568
BACK. 1924 – In: Handb. Fl. Java: 107
BAILEY 1913: Compr. Cat. Queensl. PL: 548: t. 533
Quis. 1951: Medic. Pl. Philip.: 177
LIMPR. 1928 – In: Pfl. R.: 30
FILET 1855: Pl. Bot. Tuin Weltevr.: 13
BURK. 1935: Dict.: 2118
Ridl. 1907 – In: Mat. Fl. Mal. Pen.: 78
BAKER f. 1877: Fl. Maur.: 370
LIMPR. 1928 – In: Pfl. R.: 27
Merr. 1945: pp. 85-92. – In: J. Arn. Arb.: pl. 1-2
GRIFF. 1851 – In: IC. Pl. As.: t. 272a, 1, 2
Merr. 1912: Fl. Manila: 150
Ridl. 1907 – In: Mat. Fl. Mal. Pen.: 76
PARHAM 1964: Pl. Fiji Is.: 283
BACK. & BAKH.f. 1968 – In: Fl. Java: 212
LAM 1935: p. 189. – In: Nieuw Guinee: f. 37
KAERNB. 1893 – In: Bot. Jahrb.: Beibl. n. 37, 13
Roxb. 1832 – In: Fl. Ind., ed. Carey: 172
BURM.f. 1768: Fl. Ind.: 82
Hook.f. 1892 – In: Fl. Br. Ind.: 287