Tacca integrifolia

Tacca integrifolia Ker Gawl., Bot. Mag. 36: t. 1488 1812. (syn: Ataccia aspera (Roxb.) Kunth; Ataccia cristata (Jack) Kunth; Ataccia integrifolia (Ker Gawl.) C.Presl; Ataccia laevis (Roxb.) Kunth; Ataccia lancifolia (Zoll. & Moritzi) Kunth; Tacca aspera Roxb.; Tacca choudhuriana Deb; Tacca cristata Jack; Tacca laevis Roxb.; Tacca lancifolia Zoll. & Moritzi; Tacca rafflesiana Jack ex Wall. [Invalid]; Tacca sumatrana H.Limpr.);

Bhutan to W. Malesia as per WCSP;
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Tacca integrifolia, the white batflower, is a species of flowering plant in the yam family, Dioscoreaceae, native to tropical and subtropical rainforests of Central Asia. It was first described by the English botanist John Bellenden Ker Gawler in 1812.

Tacca integrifolia is a herb growing from a thick, cylindrical rhizome. The leaf blades are borne on long stems and are oblong-elliptical to oblong-lanceolate, some 50 by 20 cm (20 by 8 in), with tapering bases and slender pointed tips. The flower scape is about 55 cm (22 in) long and is topped with a pair of involucral bracts, broad and erect, white with mauve venation. Among the individual nodding flowers, which are arranged in an umbel, are further long, filiform (thread-like) bracts. The perianth of each flower is tubular and purplish-black, 1 to 2 cm (0.4 to 0.8 in) long, with two whorls of three perianth lobes, the outer three narrowly oblong and the inner three broadly obovate. The fruits are fleshy berries some 2 cm (0.8 in) long, and the seeds, which have six longitudinal ridges, have the remains of the perianth lobes still attached.^[2]^[3]

The species is native to hilly regions of tropical and subtropical central Asia. It is known from Pakistan, eastern India, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and eastern China.^[2] It grows in the understorey of humid rainforests, growing in the leaf litter in shady sites.^[4]

The stamens are attached to the tube of the perianth in a helmet-like manner and, with the flat-topped stigma lobes, may form an insect trap; a sweet musky odour has been detected from these flowers and this may attract flies as pollinators. After pollination, the scape bends over and the developing fruits rest on the ground. The fleshy fruits are a dull colour with soft jelly-like pulp, and it is possible that the seeds are dispersed by rodents and other small mammals as they feed on the fruits.^[3]

(From Wikipedia on 30.7.17)
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Tacca chanteri or Tacca integrifolia ? : 6 posts by 2 authors. Attachments (5)

Location Rajnagar Kumarghat Unakoti district Tripura
Please identify
Seeds are half moon shaped which indicates it should be Tacca chantrieri but the petals are white, not pinkish
The seeds of Tacca integrifolia are said to be cylindrical.

To me appears close to images of Tacca chantrieri as per comparative images at Tacca

Thank you … The petals are white, not black

White bat flower is Tacca integrifolia where as Black bat flower is Tacca chantrieri

As petals are white, I am suspecting it to be Tacca integrifolia.

Other than white petals, there is any other point which will confirm.

Please confirm.

Thanks, … Pl. check more images at Tacca chantrieri as well as other sites on net.

For last two years I have been checking and finally I went to you

I have many pictures of flowers which are CLEARLY WHITE, NOT AT ALL BLACK

Thanks, … For me Tacca integrifolia looks quite different. Colour black to white (as stated by you) may be variable or changing with age. But you pl. verify this yourself.

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These are fresh flowers and they are completely white, no trace of black.
Shall I get photos of leaf and plant.
There is reference of Tacca integrifolia in the flora of Tripura.

Attachments (3)

Sorry, I got confused. You are right as per illustration & keys at

http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=132180
http://www.efloras.org/object_page.aspx?object_id=60893&flora_id=2