Jalawur (Tacca leontopetaloides) is a species of plant in the Dioscoreaceae, producing tubers, broad single leaves, flowers and fruit at the end of stalks and very long sticks, growing solitary in forests, plantations and abandoned lands.
T. leontopetaloides has a height of up to 2 meters. Tubers are round or flat or protruding wide, have thin skin, are light brown when young and turn dark gray or brown when ripe. The inner tuber is milky white. Tubers grow below the soil surface to a depth of 50 cm.
Each tree has 1-3 leaves, are round in shape, have finger leaf bones, are white-green or purplish. Each segment has rounded or banded ears. Leaf stalks with holes, fronds, vertical grooves, bright green or blackish green.
Flowers are protected by outer and inner dressings, are green or yellowish or green with purple edges and square or round in shape. The flower stalk is filiform like a stick, green with a purple tinge.
The fruit has an angle, 1.5-2.5 cm in diameter, elongated, hanging, pale green to dark green, ripe yellowish. The fruit has many seeds, oval to protruding, flat, grooved, 5-8 mm long, 1.5-3 mm wide, brownish yellow, 15-19 grooves.
TAXON
Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Liliopsida
Order: Dioscoreales
Family: Dioscoreaceae
Genus: Tacca J.R.Forst. & G.Forst. in Char. Gen. Pl., ed. 2.: 69 (1776)
Species: Tacca leontopetaloides (L.) Kuntze in Revis. Gen. Pl. 2: 704 (1891)
HOMOTYPIC SYNONYMS
Leontice leontopetaloides L. in Sp. Pl.: 313 (1753)
Tacca phallifera Rumph. ex E.A.Duchesne in Répert. Pl. Utiles Globe: 42 (1836)
Tacca pinnatifolia Gaertn. in Fruct. Sem. Pl. 1: 43 (1788)
HETEROTYPIC SYNONYMS
Arisaema gracile (Roxb.) Kunth in Enum. Pl. 3: 21 (1841)
Arum gracile Roxb. in Hort. Bengal.: 65 (1814)
Podophyllum trilobum Burm. in Fl. Malab.: 6 (1769)
Chaitaea tacca Sol. ex Seem. in Fl. Vit.: 102 (1866)
Tacca abyssinica Hochst. ex Baker in D.Oliver & auct. suc. (eds.), Fl. Trop. Afr. 7: 413 (1898)
Tacca artocarpifolia Seem. (1866)
Tacca brownii Seem. (1866)
Tacca brownii var. paeoniifolia Limpr. in H.G.A.Engler (ed.), Pflanzenr., IV, 42(Heft 92): 30 (1928)
Tacca dubia Schult. & Schult.f. in J.J.Roemer & J.A.Schultes, Syst. Veg., ed. 15[bis]. 7: 167 (1829)
Tacca gaogao Blanco in Fl. Filip.: 262 (1837)
Tacca hawaiiensis H.Limpr. (1928)
Tacca involucrata Schumach. & Thonn. in C.F.Schumacher, Beskr. Guin. Pl.: 177 (1827)
Tacca involucrata var. acutifolia (H.Limpr.) H.Limpr. (1928)
Tacca maculata Zipp. ex Span. in Linnaea 15: 480 (1841)
Tacca madagascariensis (H.Limpr.) H.Limpr. (1928)
Tacca madagascariensis Bojer in Hortus Maurit.: 350 (1837)
Tacca oceanica Seem. in J. Bot. 4: 261 (1866)
Tacca pinnatifida J.R.Forst. & G.Forst. in Char. Gen. Pl., ed. 2.: 70 (1776)
Tacca pinnatifida var. acutifolia H.Limpr. in Beitr. Kenttn. Tacca: 55 (1902)
Tacca pinnatifida var. brownii (Seem.) F.M.Bailey in Compr. Cat. Queensland Pl., ed. 2: 548 (1913)
Tacca pinnatifida subsp. interrupta Warb. ex H.Limpr. (1902)
Tacca pinnatifida subsp. involucrata (Schumach. & Thonn.) H.Limpr. (1902)
Tacca pinnatifida subsp. madagascariensis H.Limpr. (1902)
Tacca pinnatifida f. obtusata Limpr. (1928)
Tacca pinnatifida var. paeoniifolia Domin in Biblioth. Bot. 20(85): 533 (1915)
Tacca pinnatifida var. permagna Domin (1915)
Tacca quanzensis Welw. in Ann. Cons. Ultramar. (Portugal), Parte Nâo Off. 24: 591 (1858 publ. 1859)
Tacca sativa Rumph. ex Reider in Geheimnisse Blumisterei 3: 699 (1830)
Tacca umbrarum Jum. & H.Perrier in Ann. Mus. Colon. Marseille, sér. 2, 8: 386 (1910)
Tacca viridis Hemsl. in Hooker's Icon. Pl. 26: t. 2515 (1897)
PUBLICATIONS
Ahmed, Z.U. (ed.) (2008). Encyclopedia of Flora and Fauna of Bangladesh 12: 1-505. Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.
Akoègninou, A., van der Burg, W.J. & van der Maesen, L.J.G. (eds.) (2006). Flore Analytique du Bénin: 1-1034. Backhuys Publishers.
Barthelat, F. (2019). La flore illustrée de Mayotte: 1-687. Biotope éditions.
Brunel, J.F., Hiepo, P. & Scholz, H. (eds.) (1984). Flore Analytique du Togo Phanérogames: 1-751. GTZ, Eschborn.
Darbyshire, I., Kordofani, M., Farag, I., Candiga, R. & Pickering, H. (eds.) (2015). The Plants of Sudan and South Sudan: 1-400. Kew publishing, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
Demissew, S. & Nordal, I. (2010). Aloes and other Lilies of Ethiopia and Eritrea, ed, 2: 1-351. Shama Books, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Figueiredo, E. & Smith, G.F. (2008). Plants of Angola. Strelitzia 22: 1-279. National Botanical Institute, Pretoria.
Gosline, G., Bidault, E., van der Burgt, X., Cahen, D., Challen, G., Condé, N., Couch, C., Couvreur, T.L.P., Dagallier, L.M.J., Darbyshire, I., Dawson, S., Doré, T.S., Goyder, D., Grall, A., Haba, P., Haba, P., Harris, D., Hind, D.J.N., Jongkind, & al. (2023). A Taxonomically-verified and Vouchered Checklist of the Vascular Plants of the Republic of Guinea. Nature, scientific data 10, Article number: 327: [1]-[12].
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Govaerts, R., Wilkin, P. & Saunders, R.M.K. (2007). World Checklist of Dioscoreales. Yams and their allies: 1-65. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
Jones, M. (1991). A checklist of Gambian plants: 1-33. Michael Jones, The Gambia College.
Kotiya, A., Solanki, Y. & Reddy, G.V. (2020). Flora of Rajasthan: 1-769. Rajasthan state biodiversity board.
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Nurtjahya, E. & al. (2026). Flowering Plants of Bangka Island: Native and Introduced. Acta Botanica Hungarica 68: 127-156.
Pandey, R.P. & Dilwakar, P.G. (2008). An integrated check-list flora of Andaman and Nicobar islands, India. Journal of Economic and Taxonomic Botany 32: 403-500.
Plunkett, G.M., Ranker, T.A., Sam, C. & Balick, M.J. (2022). Towards a checklist of the vascular flora of Vanuatu. Candollea 77: 105-118.
Smith, A.C. (1979). Flora Vitiensis Nova. A new flora for Fiji (Spermatophytes only) 1: 1-495. Pacific Tropical Botanical Garden, Lawai.
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Strugnell, A.M. (2006). A checklist of the Spermatophytes of Mt. Mulanje, Malawi. Scripta Botanica Belgica 34: 1-199.
Thaman, R.R., Fosberg, F.R., Manner, H.I. & Hassall, D.C. (1994). The Flora of Nauru. Atoll Research Bulletin 392: 1-223.
Thiombiano, A., Schmidt, M., Dressler, S., Ouédraogo, A., Hahn, K. & Zizka, G. (2012). Catalogue des plantes vasculaires du Burkina Faso. Boissiera 65: 1-391.
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Whistler, W.A. (2022). Flora of Samoa Flowering Plants: 1-930. National Tropical Botanicl Garden. Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.
VERNACULAR NAME
Assamese: Keturi
Bislama: Arurut
Chamorro: Gåpgap
Chinese (simplified): 裂叶蒟蒻薯
Chinese (traditional): 蒟蒻薯
Czech: Taka protisečná
Danish: Ostindisk pilrod
Dogri: Muchchhal taant
English: Jalawur, Polynesian Arrowroot, Fiji arrowroot, East Indies arrowroot, Pia, Seashore bat lily, Batflower, Tahiti arrowroot
Filipino: Gaw-gaw, Tayobong, Panarien
Finnish: Liuskaviiksikki
Gujarati: Jogi badshah, Kachinda no velo
Hindi: देवकंडा - बाघ-मूंछ Devkanda, Bagh-moochh
Indonesia: Jalawur, Jalawuri pantai, Lukih
Japanese: タシロイモ
Java: Jalawur, Jalawuri, Gadung tikus, Kecondang
Kannada: Devakanda, Handigadde, Suranagadde
Konkani: Devakamdo, Kolyacho mad, Sardecho mad, Surnu
Malayalam: Chainay, Vawval chedi, Vouval chedi, Kaattuchena
Malaysia: Lukeh, Poko lukeh
Marathi: Deve-kanda, Devakanda, Jatashankar, Penghagara, Towkiracha jhad
Oria: Dhoi
Palauan: Seboseb, Ubechub
PNG: Masoa, Pia
Polish: Krąpiel pierzastodzielna
Russian: Такка перистонадрезанная
Sanskrit: Devakanda, Surna
Santali: Bonga taini
Slovak: Taka perovitá
Sumatera: Taka laut
Tamil: கக்கனம் - கார-க்-கருணை - கட்டு-க்-கருணா செனாய் - கட்டு-க்-கருணை Kakanam, Kara-k-karunai, Kattu-k-karuna, Cenai, Kattu-k-karunai
Telugu: Pedda kanda gadda, Adavi dumpa, Kanda, Ritta kanda, Vura kanda
Thai: เท้ายายม่อม
Tulu: Kattukene
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