and a third with both leaf-segments and bracts very narrow 
in Lamarck’s Encyclop. t. 232. Over and above these 
are numerous specimens from various localities in Asia and 
Africa that show many forms of bracts, from broad and 
cucullate through trapeziform to broadly ovate and obovate 
and thence to lanceolate ; and innumerable varieties in the 
size and decomposition of the leaf and breadth of its seg- 
ments: so that in the absence of living specimens I am 
quite unable to distinguish the forms of 1. pinnatifida by 
definite characters, whether as species or varieties. Their 
only pinnatifid-leaved ally is the stately 7. artocarpifolia, 
Seem. of Madagascar, figured at t, 6124 of this work, 
which is remarkable for the very long lanceolate biscriate 
bracts, the inner erect, the outer deflexed, and the great 
size of the fruit, two inches long and pointed at both ends. 
That of 1. pinnatifida varies much in shape, from ellip- 
“ar to oblong, and in size, from one half to nearly one 
inch, 
The root of Tacca pinnatifida attains the size of a large 
turnip; that of the wild plant is described by Forster as 
the most bitter and acrid of roots, but rendered milder by 
cultivation, it yielding after pounding, maceration, and 
many washings, a starch equal to the best. The latter forms 
a favourite food in many tropical countries of the old 
world, and has been imported into Kurope. Pancher, in 
Cuzent’s Tahiti, describes the root as yielding 30-60 
per cent. of fecula, the glucose from which yields 42 per 
cent. of alcohol, and adds that the natives make it into 
cakes called Poe Pia, and that the flower stems afford a 
white shining straw used for platting. 
I have found no mention of the Indian Tacca in any 
work devoted to the economic products of that country, 
except in Ainslie’s Materia Medica of Hindostan, under 
roots, where it is stated that it grows to a large size in 
Travancore, is called Chanay Kelengu, and is much eaten, 
the natives adding an agreeable acid to subdue its natural 
pungency. Roxburgh says of the Malacca plant it is the 
“‘Lekin”? of the inhabitants of that town, and under 
-Arum lyratum he gives it the Telinga name of Udavee- 
Kundu. 
The name Tacca is, according to Rumpf, derived from 
the Amboynan “ Tiia;” he adds that it is “ Toja” of the 
