The genus Tacca, which includes the Bat flowers and Arrowroot, consists of ten species of flowering plant

Flowering plant

The flowering plants , also known as Angiospermae or Magnoliophyta, are the most diverse group of land plants. Angiosperms are seed-producing plants like the gymnosperms and can be distinguished from the gymnosperms by a series of synapomorphies...

s in the order Dioscoreales

Dioscoreales

Dioscoreales is a botanical name for an order of flowering plants. Of necessity it contains the family Dioscoreaceae.In the APG II system, of 2003, this order was placed in the clade monocots and comprised the families Burmanniaceae, Dioscoreaceae and Nartheciaceae.Under the APG system of 1998,...

, native to tropical regions of Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

, Australia, and south-eastern Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...

. In older texts, the genus was treated in its own family Taccaceae, but the 2003 APG II system

APG II system

The APG II system of plant classification is the second, now obsolete, version of a modern, mostly molecular-based, system of plant taxonomy that was published in April 2003 by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group. It was a revision of the first APG system, published in 1998, and was superseded in 2009...

 incorporates it into the family Dioscoreaceae

Dioscoreaceae

Dioscoreaceae is a family of monocotyledonous flowering plants, with about 750 species in eight or nine genera. The best-known member of the family is the Yam ....

. Taccaceae is native to Malaysia.

Cultivated varieties

Several species are cultivated as ornamental plant

Ornamental plant

Ornamental plants are plants that are grown for decorative purposes in gardens and landscape design projects, as house plants, for cut flowers and specimen display...

s for their bold foliage and large flowers. The well-known T. chantrieri

Tacca chantrieri

The Black bat flower, Tacca chantrieri, is a species of flowering plant in the yam family Dioscoreaceae. Tacca chantrieri is an unusual species in that it has black flowers. These flowers are somewhat bat-shaped, are up to 12 inches across, and have long 'whiskers' that can grow up to 28 inches...

goes by the names of Black Bat Flower, Bat-head Lily, Devil Flower or Cat's Whiskers. Tacca integrifolia

Tacca integrifolia

The White bat flower, Tacca integrifolia, is a species of flowering plant in the yam family Dioscoreaceae....

is known as the Purple or White Bat Flower. Other cultivated varieties include the Arrowroot, T. pinnatifida leontopetaloides, and T. cristata aspera

Tacca cristata

Tacca cristata is a species of flowering plant in the yam family Dioscoreaceae....

.

Selected species

• Tacca ankaranensis
  Tacca ankaranensis
  Tacca ankaranensis is a species of flowering plant in the yam family Dioscoreaceae, which is endemic to Madagascar. It was discovered on the Ankarana massif in far northern Madagacar....
  
  Bard.-Vauc., 1997
  
• Tacca chantrieri
  Tacca chantrieri
  The Black bat flower, Tacca chantrieri, is a species of flowering plant in the yam family Dioscoreaceae. Tacca chantrieri is an unusual species in that it has black flowers. These flowers are somewhat bat-shaped, are up to 12 inches across, and have long 'whiskers' that can grow up to 28 inches...
  
  André, 1901
  
• Tacca cristata
  Tacca cristata
  Tacca cristata is a species of flowering plant in the yam family Dioscoreaceae....
  
  Jack, 1821
  
• Tacca esquirolii (H. Lév.) Rehder, 1936
  
• Tacca gaogao Blanco, 1837
  
• Tacca hawaiiensis H. Limpr., 1928
  
• Tacca integrifolia
  Tacca integrifolia
  The White bat flower, Tacca integrifolia, is a species of flowering plant in the yam family Dioscoreaceae....
  
  Ker Gawl., 1812
  
• Tacca involucrata Schumach. & Thonn., 1827
  
• Tacca laevis Roxb., 1814
  
• Tacca leontopetaloides
  Tacca leontopetaloides
  Tacca leontopetaloides is a species of flowering plant in the yam family Dioscoreaceae, that is native to tropical Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia, northern Australia, New Guinea, Samoa, Micronesia, and Fiji. It was intentionally brought to tropical Pacific Islands with early human migrations...
  
  (L.) Kuntze, 1891
  
• Tacca minor Ridl., 1907
  
• Tacca palmata Blume
  
• Tacca paxiana H. Limpr., 1928
  
• Tacca pinnatifida J.R. Forst. & G. Forst., 1775
  
• Tacca pinnatifida subsp. involucrata (Schumach. & Thonn.) H. Limpr., 1902
  
• Tacca plantaginea (Hance) Drenth, 1972
  
• Tacca subflabellata P.P. Ling & C.T. Ting, 1982