Tacca multifida

[aussiearoids]

I saw these first growing at an orchid nursery , just little seedlings that looked like Amorphophallus .

Got one from Equatorial Exotics a few years ago .

Strange tuber behavior , growing out the bottom of the pot .

So if you have the pot sitting on the ground it will grow out and down . BUT this is not to bad as I have a few growing very well , and one has shot up an enormous flower spike , way over my head And damn if it did not snap off , and it looked like some seed may have set .

[aussiearoids]

Foliage looks like leaf cutter ants have been having a feast .

[tropicbreeze]

That inflorescence looks very much like our local one, Tacca leontopetaloides. Coincidentally today I was wandering around in an area where there were hundreds of these, some also with inflorescences about 2.5 metres tall.

If the fruit on the Madagascan one is similar to ours then you only have flowers in your photo. The seed pods are quite a lot larger with longitudinal fluted edges. The stems of the inflorescences are usually fairly weak, especially when grown in shade.

From what I've observed ours have three leaf forms. One with very broad leaflets, one a bit narrower, and one that looks identical to Amorphophallus galbra. In fact, the latter you have to look closely to distinguish it from the Amorph. None of ours have leaflets as small as the Madagascan one in your photo.

The flowers look great but deteriorate quickly.

[ariscott]

Yes... I have a local one kept on popping up in the garden bed. I haven't seen it this year... I have to check it out.

Regards, Ari

[calyptrocalyx&licuala freck]

Yes... I have a local one kept on popping up in the garden bed. I haven't seen it this year... I have to check it out.

Regards, Ari

Hey Ari, Have ya got a couple of spare one's

if ya spot them, that is.

...Cheers Mikey....

[aussiearoids]

T leontopetaloides is a very wide spread sp. I saw it on some of the small islands off Sulawesi . Our Makassar guide told me the tuber was eaten sometimes. He was amazed at my interest in it and helped me to dig up a tuber . Damn if it was not over 1m deep in the sandy soil .

One of the spent flowers was getting larger , technically not seed yet but it woulda coulda been a seed pod

Has anyone seen the Madagascan species growing there ?

I would imaging it could take full sun with the fine foliage.

One of the other ones may flower yet , I would like to grow lots more of these , imagine a massed planting in the right spot .

[tropicbreeze]

Ari, you won't have one, you'll have hundreds. In drier exposed areas of your place they'll probably be just shooting. In shadier wetter areas they'd probably be flowering. I've got them at all stages now, even hundreds of seedlings coming up. Unfortunately though, I don't have good enough soil to get them up to 2.5 metres tall.

Michael, haven't seen the Madagascan one anywhere here. About the only ones sold here are the more speccy ones like chantrieri.

[aussiearoids]

Zig , a few people who post here have made it over to Madagascar , like Jeff , gary and a few others ... I thought someone may have seen them in habitat .. We even have a few members living there I am certain , Bruno