Winter time visitors to zoos will often find themselves inside interior exhibits—it’s a great place to pretend to be off on a warmer continent somewhere. Helping to complete this illusion can be an array of tropical plant species, lovingly tended by zoo horticulturists. And while it’s great to see animals surrounded by a realistic setting, many of the plants put on quite a show in their own right!
One such plant is the purple- or white bat plant, Tacca integrifolia. Related to true yams (nb: not the sweet potatoes that get called yams in the grocery store, but that’s a topic for a different blog post), it grows wild across East Asia, from Pakistan to Borneo. Tacca is a forest understory plant that is inconspicuous except when in flower, when it produces a floral display consisting of several whitish bracts (leaf-like structures), long whisker-like appendages (called bracteoles), and dusky grey-purple flowers. When viewed from a short distance, you might get the impression of a bat, hence the common name. You can typically see Tacca flowering in January and February. Don’t worry about smelling the flowers, though; descriptions range from “scentless” to “sort of stinky.”
Scientists believe Tacca’s complex flower structure and bad smell evolved to attract flies as a pollinator. Although we often don’t think of it, flies are common pollinators. A fly doesn’t get a reward for its services (Tacca produces no nectar, and flies don’t eat pollen), it is essentially tricked into doing the plant’s bidding. If you find a plant with dark-colored flowers and an unpleasant odor, chances are that it’s trying to attract flies to pollinate it. If your guests are needing a bit of a warm up during their Zoo visit, take some time to guide them into your zoo's horticulture winter display—and be sure not to miss the bat plant!
