Taccaceae FAMILY

Tacca chantrieri

Edibility

0/5

Medicinal

3/5

Safety & Hazards

None known

Botanical Description

Tacca chantrieri is a herbaceous perennial plant producing a cluster of leaves on long petioles from a thick, horizontally creeping, subcylindric rhizomes. The petioles are around 10 - 30cm long with leaf blades 20 - 60cm long and 7 - 25cm wide, The flowering scapes are up to 55cm tall[ 266 Title Flora of China Publication Author Website http://flora.huh.harvard.edu/china/ Publisher Missouri Botanical Garden Press; St. Louis. Year 1994 ISBN Description An excellent, comprehensive resource in 25 volumes. In addition to the botanical information the flora also gives basic information on habitat and some uses. An on-line version is also available. ]. The plant is harvested from the wild for local use as a food and a medicine. The rhizomes are harvested as a source of diosgenin, a phytosteroid sapogenin that is used to manufacture a number of steroid medicines.

Habitat & Origin

Origintropical

Native RangeE. Asia - southern China, Bangladesh, northeast India, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaya

HabitatDamp forests[ 283 Title Medicinal Plants in Vietnam Publication Author Nguyen Van Dan & Doan Thi Nhu Publisher World Health Organisation Year 1989 ISBN 92 9061 101 4 Description An excellent book, giving information on over 200 plants, their medicinal compounds and applications. ]. Forests, valleys, along rivers; at elevations from 200 - 1,300 metres[ 266 Title Flora of China Publication Author Website http://flora.huh.harvard.edu/china/ Publisher Missouri Botanical Garden Press; St. Louis. Year 1994 ISBN Description An excellent, comprehensive resource in 25 volumes. In addition to the botanical information the flora also gives basic information on habitat and some uses. An on-line version is also available. ].