Tacca chantrieri

The Tacca chantrieri, also known as Bat Plant or Bat Flower, is a fascinating plant but somewhat delicate to cultivate. It displays a rather strange inflorescence, very dark purple-violet, imbued with mystery. It extends its bracts in the manner of a bat in flight, revealing under its 'wings' a bouquet of small pendulous flowers accompanied by a bundle of gracefully trailing long filaments. This curious inflorescence is carried by a stem emerging from a rosette of elongated, elegant, shiny green foliage. Native to tropical regions of Asia, this rhizomatous and perennial plant from the rainforests of Malaysia must be cultivated under a veranda, a warm greenhouse with a humid atmosphere, in a very bright location, but without direct sunlight.

The Tacca chantrieri belongs to the family Taccaceae, composed of the single genus Tacca. It is a rhizomatous perennial species indigenous to Thailand, Myanmar (Burma), and regions near China, naturalised and cultivated in many regions of tropical Asia. In the wild, it is found growing in  forests, valleys, along rivers, from 200m (656ft) up to 1300m altitude, on acidic and humus-rich soil, in a saturated, humid environment. Under good cultivation conditions, it reaches a height of 75 to 90 cm (30 to 35in) when flowering, 40 to 50 cm (16 to 20in) for the foliage.

The plant develops from thick rhizomes. It forms a clump of basal leaves, carried by petioles 10 to 30 cm (4 to 12in) long, with oblong and entire lamina measuring 20 to 50 cm (8 to 20in) (sometimes 60 cm (24in)) in length and 7 cm (3in) in width. The leaves resemble those of spathiphyllums. They are glabrous or pubescent, wedge-shaped, pointed at their tips. The foliage is bright green and shiny, with visible veins. In our climates, flowering occurs from June to August, then sporadically until December. Only 2 or 3-year-old plants produce inflorescences. This “bat flower” owes its name to its very distinctive inflorescence; it evokes the small mammal, both in shape and very dark colour. The flowers are dark purplish-black, composed of 5 petals, grouped in bouquets (counting up to 25 flowers) in the centre of four brownish-violet bracts, two of which, in outer position, are particularly large. Each flower pedicel produces long trailing black-violet filaments, 25 cm (10in) long, forming a shooting star tail. The fruits are berries containing numerous small seeds.

The bat plant is a plant for knowledgeable gardeners, a curiosity to be admired up close, protected from cold and scorching sun, in a heated and humid greenhouse or veranda, without direct sunlight. It adorns itself with beautiful foliage and offers one of the most interesting flowers that exist among plants. As such, it can only exert fascination and interest in those who contemplate it. However, it is sometimes capricious and demanding in terms of cultivation conditions. When it is happy, this plant develops, flowers abundantly, and even produces offspring plants. When something is lacking, it slowly weakens and eventually disappears. Unfortunately, the only way to know if you can provide it with good cultivation conditions is to try. It should be kept in mind that this plant is native to hot and humid tropical areas of Asia and experiences some dryness during the rest period in winter under our latitudes.