Tacca palmata Blume

Tacca palmata Blume, Enum. Pl. Javae 1: 83 (1827).

Tacca palmata Blume; Photo An Đức

Vietnamese name: 

Râu hùm lá chân vịt, Nưa chân vịt

Chinese name: 

Indonesia name: 

Si marhaladi.

Latin name: 

Tacca palmata Blume

Family: 

Taccaceae

Synonym name:

Tacca angustilobata Merr.

Tacca elmeri K.Krause

Tacca fatsiifolia Warb. ex H.Limpr.

Tacca montana Schult. & Schult.f.

Tacca rumphii Schauer

Tacca vesicaria Blanco

Description: 

It’s a perennial herb. Rootstock is tuberous, ovoid, small, 2 to 4 centimeters in diameter. Petiole is slender, 20 to 30 centimeters long. Leaves are pedately 5- to 7-partite, 15 to 20 centimeters in diameter, thin; segments are oblong to elliptic-oblong, entire, acuminate, the lower two on each side more united than the others. Scapes are slender, about as long as the leaves. Flowers are umbellate, pedicelled, purple and green, about 8 millimeters long, the involucre usually of four leaves, the outer two broadly ovate, acuminate, nearly sessile, and 3 to 6 centimeters long; the inner two with constricted bases, petioled. Fruit is subglobose, fleshy, red, and about 1 centimeter long.

Flower and fruid season: 

VII-IX; 9-3

Distribution: 

This species is distributed in Pangasinan, Nueva Ecija, Bulacan, Rizal, Bataan and Laguna Provinces in Luzon, in Semirara, and in Panay and VietNam. In VietNam, found in Bà Rịa Vũng Tàu (Côn Đảo – Bẩy Cánh), Kiên Giang (Phú Quốc, Thổ Chu).

Ecological: 

Grows for many years, grows in wet areas under forests, secondary forests, bamboo forests, along streams and ravines.

Use: 

Tuber is used as a medicine to regulate menstruation and cure snakebites.

Reference: 

- theplantlist.org

- efloras.org

- ipni.org