Trees & Plants

Bat plant

Hiththala

Tacca leontopetaloides (L.)

Common in open areas, especially in sandy soil The tuber is an important food source. Starch from the tuber is used to stiffen fabrics and the bast fibres of stem are used to make mats. The raw tubers are a good remedy for stomach ailments. Mixed with water and red clay, the plan

Details

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uses: The tuber is an important food source. Starch from the tuber is used to stiffen fabrics and the bast fibres of stem are used to make mats. The raw tubers are a good remedy for stomach ailments. Mixed with water and red clay, the plant is eaten for L.,
family: Taccaceae
synonym: Leontice leontopetaloides L., Tacca artocarpifolia Seem.
description: Erect rhizomatous herbs, rhizomes cylindric to subcylindric, 15-25 cm in diam. Leaves 1-3, 30-90 cm, 3-partite, broadly obovate, ovate or oblong ovate, segments variously pinnatifid, margins undulate; petioles 30- 90 cm long, terete, hollow, striate. Scapes longer than petiole, 10-40 flowered. Flowers pedicelled, arranged in an umbel, drooping, ca.1.75 cm across, greenish yellow. Bracts 6-12, oblong-lanceolate, recurved, striped with purple; bracteoles filiform, numerous, much longer than the bracts. Stigma petaloid, 2-fid and inflexed like an umbrella over the style. Fruits × ovoid, ca. 3 2 cm, 6-ribbed; seeds many, ovoid to ellipsoid, angular. Kuntze
native range: Tropical Africa, South and Southeast Asia and northern Australia
distribution: Indo-Malaysia to Australia and Pacific Islands
english names: Bat plant
flowering fruiting: August - October
occurrence maldives: Common in open areas, especially in sandy soil