Tacca leontopetaloides
According to the National Tropical Botanical Garden's web site:
Tacca leontopetaloides is naturally distributed from western Africa through southeast
Asia to northern Australia. It was intentionally brought to tropical Pacific Islands
with early human migrations.
My reason for growing and selling this particular Tacca and not the traditional Batflower species
(T. integrifolia and T. chantrieri) is that Tacca leontopetaloides has a leaf that is reminiscent
of an Ammorphophallus. Besides, the inflorescence is hard to beat what with all the whiskers
and such.
In 2007 I grew the plants in pure coir, which didn't turn out to be a great idea. I think it held too much water.
In 2008 I changed all of mix to 50% coir and 50% perlite. This was quite a well draining mix that still held enough water
for the plants. If you're growing in northern climates, like I have in Connecticut, then I recommend this mix.
The result was spectacular! The plants were very happy and grew very well.
I had originally planted them in quite shallow pots because I was afraid of overwatering - and they pushed themselves right
out of the pot! After the first one fell over on the the ground I discovered there was a very sturdy root structure growing
straight down that pushed the plant out of its pot. After that I repotted them all into deeper pots. That long thing that
grew straight down turned out to be what I'll call the primary offset, the new tuber for next year. Some of the plants also
grew a number of smaller offsets that were closer to the soil surface.
I recommend that you give this plant a try!
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