The genus Tacca, which includes the Bat flowers and Arrowroot, consists of ten species of flowering plants in the order Dioscoreales, native to tropical regions of Africa, Australia, and south-eastern Asia. Several species are cultivated as ornamental plants for their bold foliage and large flowers.

Wow! What a sight! Tacca leontopetaloides is a species of flowering plant in the yam family Dioscoreaceae, which is native to tropical Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia, northern Australia, New Guinea, Samoa, Micronesia, and Fiji. Common names include Polynesian Arrowroot, Pia (Hawaii, French Polynesia, Niue, and Cook Islands), Masoa (Samoa), Mahoa (Tonga), Yabia (Fiji) Gapgap (Guam) and Taka (Indonesia). The tubers of Polynesian Arrowroot contain starch, making it an important edible food source for many Pacific Island cultures, primarily for the inhabitants of low islands and atolls. Polynesian arrowroot was prepared into a flour to make a variety of puddings. The tubers were first grated and then allowed to soak in fresh water. The settled starch was rinsed repeatedly to remove the bitterness and then dried. The flour was mixed with mashed taro, breadfruit, or Pandanus fruit extract and mixed with coconut cream to prepare puddings. Today, Polynesian arrowroot has been largely replaced by corn starch. The starch was additionally used to stiffen fabrics, and on some islands, the stem’s bast fibres were woven into mats. In traditional Hawaiian medicine the raw tubers were eaten to treat stomach ailments. Mixed with water and red clay, the plant was consumed to treat diarrhoea and dysentery. This combination was also used to stop internal haemorrhaging in the stomach and colon and applied to wounds to stop bleeding.