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.Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families In older texts, the genus was treated in its own family Taccaceae, but the 2003 APG II system incorporates it into the family Dioscoreaceae.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.
The APG III and APG IV systems continue to include Tacca in Dioscoreaceae.
Description
Many Tacca species have nearly black flowers, with conspicuous involucral bracts and  bracteoles like whiskers.cite Q 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.
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.
Subdivision
There are at least 16 species,Catalogue of Life: 2017 Annual Checklist Tacca
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 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
Synonyms:
Tacca lanceolata Spruce - Brazil, Venezuela = Tacca parkeri Seem.Catalogue (2017)Tropicos
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.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, <big>蒟蒻薯属</big> ju ruo shu shu, Tacca J. R. Forster & G. Forster, Char.
Gen. Pl.
35. 1775.
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 References
Bibliography
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.
