Tog Tan

About 2 months ago I yanked 2 of Tacca integrifolia from the jungle for a friend of mine who wanted them. They were not in flower then. A couple of days ago he called me and said one of the plants came out with a white flower! Huh?? White? Aren't they supposed to be black?

I went over to his place today and saw the plant with an albino flower! Dang! Alba! Now I will have to wait for a pup from him as this is an extremely rare occurrence. This is what I call luck - on the other side of the pond!

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Tog Tan has sadly suddenly passed away 6/16/09. We will miss you Tog Tan.

Bob

Too cool!

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Steve L

Tacca Integrifolia is one of my all time favorite plants. After killing 4 trying to container grow it; I finally decided I would try it in the ground. I picked out my most protected spot which wound up being the perfect location under a canopy with morning sun, then filtered through the rest of the day. Believe it or not, that was 5 years ago and it is still doing fine, blooming every fall for me in my Zone 9 environment.

Steve

Tog Tan

Steve, nice to hear that your plant is doing well. Here are some notes of it in its habitat;

Ensitu
They are found mostly in areas which is moist and humid. Though they are found in exposed areas which receives the morning sunlight, however, it is interesting that in areas which receives 40% sunlight, they are even more plentiful and grow very close together. A weed like situation.

Besides the Tacca integrifolia, the totally black Tacca borneensis is also found here. I had a Tacca sp from Thailand which has a mid green flower and this one grows in the full sun. I have forgotten the name.

In Cultivation
These guys are heavy drinkers and feeders. They can take as much as you can give them...then the leaves grow very big.That's the thing I dislike as they take up too much space! I have seen some big plants with huge, almost 2ft span blooms and encountering one at night in the forest can give you quite a jolt like seeing a whitish vampire's face in the darkness!
In good condition, they bloom non stop year round. Not many locals are aware that it is found in the jungle and the plants are sold at $8-10 here. Suckers!

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Tog Tan has sadly suddenly passed away 6/16/09. We will miss you Tog Tan.

Steve L

I am familar with the Integrifolia, Chantrieri (Black), and a green form. I don't remember that name of the green one either, but I know it was not Borneensis, so there must be more than 3 species.

Mark Hall

Tog, I have heard the White one called Nivea ( like the cream ) not seen as often as the Black or green varieties though.

Is there nothing you can't find out on your trips

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Time Flies like an Arrow.....Fruit flies like a Banana.

Chironex

I have seeds for the black, brown, green, two whites (nivea and alba) and I think a maroon colored Tacca. There is a lady on eBay that had all kinds of them listed, so I got seeds for all of them.
There might a few more that I didn't get, but I will try to find the seeds and update the species names, etc. Maybe I will just send my whole box of seeds to you Tog. I am down to like 30,000 (not a lot considering many are Chinese poppy and peony seeds) But I do have seeds for a few hundred different tropical and sub-tropical plants) I don't have good enough conditions to grow them here.
I have some unique and rare seeds from Peru, Australia and some others. Paid quite a bit for some of them, so I would like to see them grown. No use hanging onto seeds that are never sown.

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Scot

Tog Tan

Man, Scot, you are one heck of a maniacal hoarder! And I thought I was bad...
PS: Sent email to ya already...

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Tog Tan has sadly suddenly passed away 6/16/09. We will miss you Tog Tan.