Tacca leontopetaloides(L.) Kuntze

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WFO wfo-0000567798 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Tacca leontopetaloides, photographed by Dana Lee Ling
fig. a Dana Lee Ling, CC0 1.0 / 2019-08-14 / obs. 48143657

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 79 botanical countries

Regions where Tacca leontopetaloides is native: Angola, Benin, Burkina, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, DR Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Sudan-South Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Andaman Is., Bangladesh, Bismarck Archipelago, Borneo, Cambodia, India, Jawa, Laccadive Is., Laos, Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, Maldives, Maluku, Myanmar, New Guinea, Nicobar Is., Philippines, Solomon Is., Sri Lanka, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Thailand, Vietnam, Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia, Caroline Is., Cook Is., Fiji, Gilbert Is., Marianas, Marquesas, Marshall Is., New Caledonia, Pitcairn Is., Samoa, Society Is., Tokelau-Manihiki, Tonga, Tuamotu, Tubuai Is., Vanuatu, Wallis-Futuna Is. AngolaBeninBurkinaBurundiCameroonCentral African RepublicChadCongoDR CongoEquatorial GuineaEthiopiaGabonGambiaGhanaGuineaGuinea-BissauIvory CoastKenyaLiberiaMadagascarMalawiMaliMozambiqueNigerNigeriaSenegalSierra LeoneSudan-South SudanTanzaniaTogoUgandaZambiaZimbabweBangladeshBismarck ArchipelagoBorneoCambodiaIndiaJawaLaosLesser Sunda Is.MalayaMalukuMyanmarNew GuineaPhilippinesSolomon Is.Sri LankaSulawesiSumateraThailandVietnamNorthern TerritoryQueenslandWestern AustraliaFijiNew Caledonia ComorosMauritiusSeychellesAndaman Is.Laccadive Is.MaldivesNicobar Is.Caroline Is.Cook Is.MarianasMarquesasMarshall Is.Pitcairn Is.SamoaSociety Is.Tokelau-ManihikiTongaTuamotuTubuai Is.VanuatuWallis-Futuna Is.
Native distribution of Tacca leontopetaloides, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Angola ANG AFRICA
Benin BEN
Burkina BKN
Burundi BUR
Cameroon CMN
Central African Republic CAF
Chad CHA
Comoros COM
Congo CON
DR Congo ZAI
Equatorial Guinea EQG
Ethiopia ETH
Gabon GAB
Gambia GAM
Ghana GHA
Guinea GUI
Guinea-Bissau GNB
Ivory Coast IVO
Kenya KEN
Liberia LBR
Madagascar MDG
Malawi MLW
Mali MLI
Mauritius MAU
Mozambique MOZ
Niger NGR
Nigeria NGA
Senegal SEN
Seychelles SEY
Sierra Leone SIE
Sudan-South Sudan SUD
Tanzania TAN
Togo TOG
Uganda UGA
Zambia ZAM
Zimbabwe ZIM
Andaman Is. AND ASIA-TROPICAL
Bangladesh BAN
Bismarck Archipelago BIS
Borneo BOR
Cambodia CBD
India IND
Jawa JAW
Laccadive Is. LDV
Laos LAO
Lesser Sunda Is. LSI
Malaya MLY
Maldives MDV
Maluku MOL
Myanmar MYA
New Guinea NWG
Nicobar Is. NCB
Philippines PHI
Solomon Is. SOL
Sri Lanka SRL
Sulawesi SUL
Sumatera SUM
Thailand THA
Vietnam VIE
Caroline Is. CRL PACIFIC
Cook Is. COO
Fiji FIJ
Gilbert Is. GIL
Marianas MRN
Marquesas MRQ
Marshall Is. MRS
New Caledonia NWC
Pitcairn Is. PIT
Samoa SAM
Society Is. SCI
Tokelau-Manihiki TOK
Tonga TON
Tuamotu TUA
Tubuai Is. TUB
Vanuatu VAN
Wallis-Futuna Is. WAL
Northern Territory NTA AUSTRALASIA
Queensland QLD
Western Australia WAU

Not drawn on the map: Gilbert Is.. We hold no public-domain boundary for this region, so it is listed rather than guessed at.

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Flowering 33 in flower of 83 examined

Proportion of examined Tacca leontopetaloides in flower, by month
Month In flower Examined Share 95% interval
Jan 5 13 38% 18% to 64%
Feb 3 6 50% 19% to 81%
Mar 4 10 40% 17% to 69%
Apr 1 7 14% 3% to 51%
May 1 5 20% 4% to 62%
Jun 5 6 83% 44% to 97%
Jul 0 4 too few examined
Aug 6 10 60% 31% to 83%
Sep 1 3 too few examined
Oct 0 2 too few examined
Nov 1 4 too few examined
Dec 6 13 46% 23% to 71%

Peak flowering in Jun. Each bar is the share of Tacca leontopetaloides observations in which someone actually recorded the reproductive state and found the plant in flower, not the raw number of flowering records. That distinction matters: people observe plants far more in spring than in winter, so a bare count of flowering records partly measures when people go outside. Dividing by the number examined removes that. 33 of 83 examined observations were in flower, every one of them research grade. The whisker on each bar is a 95% Wilson interval. 4 months have fewer than 5 examined observations, so no proportion is drawn for them. This is still a global aggregate and not a forecast for your garden: the same species flowers on different dates in different hemispheres. Where a species has fewer than 30 flowering records we do not draw this chart at all. Computed from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

Also published as 36 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Arisaema gracile (Roxb.) Kunth
  • Arum gracile Roxb.
  • Chaitaea tacca Sol. ex Seem.
  • Chaitea tacca Solander ex Parkinson
  • Leontice leontopetaloides L.
  • Tacca abyssinica Hochst. ex Baker
  • Tacca artocarpifolia Seem.
  • Tacca brownii Seem.
  • Tacca brownii var. paeoniifolia Limpr.
  • Tacca dubia Schult. & Schult.f.
  • Tacca gaogao Blanco
  • Tacca guineensis G.Don ex Loudon
  • Tacca hawaiiensis H.Limpr.
  • Tacca involucrata Schumach. & Thonn.
  • Tacca involucrata var. acutifolia (H.Limpr.) H.Limpr.
  • Tacca maculata Zipp. ex Span.
  • Tacca madagascariensis Bojer
  • Tacca madagascariensis (H.Limpr.) H.Limpr.
  • Tacca oceanica Seem.
  • Tacca phallifera Rumph. ex E.A.Duchesne
  • Tacca pinnatifida J.R.Forst. & G.Forst.
  • Tacca pinnatifida f. obtusata Limpr.
  • Tacca pinnatifida subsp. eupinnatifida H.Limpr.
  • Tacca pinnatifida subsp. interrupta Warb. ex H.Limpr.

and 12 more.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.