The Spooky Bat Flower Page 1

The Spooky Bat Flower

By Norby Bautista




One plant which is somewhat spooky and may even be considered as one of the Halloween plants is the
strange Tacca chantrieri, or also known as the Bat Flower. This is exotic tropical perennial plant from
the rainforests of Southeast Asia and Africa. It belongs to the Taccaceae plant family and it has weird
looking deep purple-brown and white flowers that at first glance, look like a black bat.
Specifically, the center of the flower has an uncanny resemblance to the face of a bat. It even has
whiskers and a tail. From these striking flowers, clusters of tiny orchid-like purple pods and 30
centimeter long whiskers hang down. The plant can produce 10 to 12 of these amazing 20-inch flowers
in one flowering season. . These flowers are up to 12 inches across, and have long 'whiskers' that can
grow up to 28 inches.

The Spooky Bat Flower Page 2


The Bat Flower reaches its flowering size in about three years. Its an excellent outdoor pot plant, and
its best placed in shaded, humid places, most particularly under trees. Like many ferns, its lush, green,
and heavily veined foliage benefits from filtered light.
Though the bat flower requires more care than the average house plant, once you learn the basic care of
it, it is quite easy to grow. The plant can be planted in a free-draining, high humus or compost potting
mix. The plant is propagated by seeds or can be purchased as a young seedling. The seeds must be
initially placed in a plastic bag with the appropriate potting medium until it germinates. When the
seedling reaches two inches in height, it is placed in soil in a three-inch pot. As the plant further grows, it
is transferred to a bigger pot. Aside from daily watering, the plant must be misted twice a day. The plant
requires a lot of moisture or humidity.
Fertilize plants with a dilute solution of liquid fertilizer every two weeks. While it takes three years for
the plant to flower, the wait is well worth it. Once it flowers, it flowers all year round.
The bat flower plant is not prone to any pests in particular, but you should always inspect new plants for
any signs of pests, such as holes in the leaves or the presence of visible insects, before purchasing. The
Bat Flower is an appropriate indoor plant decoration during the Halloween due to its bat-shaped
flowers, which is very unique feature of the plant.