172 HEXANDRIA MONOGYNIA. TaCCU, 



3. T. pinnatifida. Willd. 2. 200. Forst. gen. N. 35. 



Leaves pinnatifid. Involucre many-leaved. 



Tacca littorea. Rumph. Amb. vol 5. 1. 114, table 112 of 

 the same, though quoted for a variety of this by Forster, 

 is an Arum figured and described by me under the 

 name A, campanulatum. 



Lekin of the inhabitants of the town of Malacca. 



Tacca pinnatifolia. Gcert. sent. 1. p. 43. t. 14./. 2. 



A native of the Moluccas, and Malay countries, and 

 from the latter introduced by Dr. Harris, of Madras 

 into the Company's Botanic Garden at Calcutta in 1800, 

 where it blossoms iu June and July. Seeds ripen in Oc- 

 tol)er. 



Root tuberous, perennial, often as large as a child's 

 head, round, and pretty smooth ; with but few slender 

 fibres from its surface, intensely bitter when raw, but 

 yielding a great quantity of beautifully white starch, of 

 which the best flour for confectionary, puddings, &c. is 

 made. Leaves radical, petioled, three-parted ; divisions 

 bi'tri-partite and ultimately pinnatifid, with waved mar- 

 gins, smooth on both sides, length and breath almost 

 equal, and often two or three feet each way. Petioles 

 columnar, slightly grooved, from one to three feet long. 

 Scapes radical, round, tapering, smooth, naked, near- 

 ly twice the length of the petioles, slightly grooved, 

 and striped with darker and paler green. Umbel simple, 

 composed of from ten to forty long-pedicelled, drooping, 

 greenish flowers, intermixed with about as many long, 

 slender, smooth, simple, drooping filaments or bractes. 

 Involucre from six to twelve leaved ; leaflets lanceolate, 

 recurvate, beautifully marked with pale purple veins. 

 Calyx superior, one-leaved, globose, fleshy, permanent, 

 six-parted ; segments obtuse, incurved, alternately broad- 

 er, green, with the margins somewhat purple. Corol 

 none, as I consider what Forster so calls to be the sta- 

 mina. Filaments six, short, with broad, coloured mar- 



