RE: Tacca questions (off topic??)

From: "Wilbert Hetterscheid" hetter at worldonline.nl> on 2002.05.26 at 18:50:48(8881) Tacca plantaginea is a small version of, say Tacca chantrieri but it has less dramatically coloured inflorescences. They are basically a pale greenish. There is a fair plant growing in Leiden, kept warm and humid indeed. That's all I can say of this species. Oh, yes, it used to be separated from Tacca in the genus Schizocapsa but that is no longer followed. +More Tacca: The Dutch botanist Rumphius presented Tacca sativa and Tacca phallifera in 1747. Tacca sativa was presented as a plate with only a leaf but the description clearly indicates this is Am. paeoniifolius. Rumphius never saw the inflorescence of this but he describes that if the plant is left alone in a garden it will produce fruits on a long stalk. Tacca phallifera is a plate in which both a REAL Tacca is seen (T. leontopetaloides, incl. an inflorescence) and an isolated inflorescence of Am. paeoniifolius. Rumphius says the plant was brought from the mountains and first produces a "fungus" (= the paeoniifolius inflorescence) and later it produces the "Tacca" (the leaf). The whole affair is strange as the description of Tacca phallifera is all about A. paeoniifolius whereas the drawing clearly shows the mix with T. leontopetaloides. Generally the reason why present-day Tacca and Amorphs have been associated is the general similarity of the leaf of the weedy Tacca leontopetaloides with Amorphophallus. The people on Ambon (the island where Rumphius resided and where he wrote his "Herbarium Amboinensis" books) called these umbrella-like leaves generically "Tacca". So that's why Rumphius also used that word, which later became the name of the genus Tacca and which was restricted by botanists to include only the real Tacca species as we know them today. The confusion thus was created by the coincidence that Tacca leontopetaloides was growing on an island together with Am. paeoniifolius and both have similar leaves. Thus endeth this sunday lecture for all you to enjoy (or delete..........). Lord P. > -----Oorspronkelijk bericht----- > Van: aroid-l@mobot.org [mailto:aroid-l@mobot.org]Namens > Randall M. Story > Verzonden: vrijdag 24 mei 2002 21:26 > Aan: Multiple recipients of list AROID-L > Onderwerp: Tacca questions (off topic??) > > > Hi, > > I'm looking for information about Tacca plantaginea (Schizocapsa > plantaginea?). I get the impression that Tacca used to be > considered an > Aroid, but not anymore (please correct me if I am wrong). > Anyway, I picked > up a small seedling of this plant (~3 inch diameter) at last weekend's > Huntington Botanical Garden (near Los Angeles) plant sale. I > have been able > to find little information about this species and I am > curious: How do I > grow it? (warm and humid? light level?). Does it look like > other Taccas > (i.e. chantrieri). How long will it take my little plant to > reach blooming > size? > > It sounds like the history of the classification of this > genus is quite > interesting. I read that at least one species used to be > considered closely > related to Amorphophallus (e.g. Dewey Fisk's site)! > > Thanks > > Randy > Pasadena, California (USDA zone 10/Sunset zone 21, 2 miles from the > Huntington) >

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