View source for Dioscorea luzonensis (PROSEA)

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<big>''[[Dioscorea luzonensis]]'' Schauer</big>
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:Family: Dioscoreaceae

== Vernacular names ==

*Philippines: pakit, mayatbang (Tagalog), kamengeg (Ilokano).

== Distribution ==

Philippines (Luzon, Palawan).

== Uses ==

Tubers are often used for food. Harvesting the tubers is laborious, but is rewarding because the plant is abundant in the wild. It is not cultivated.

== Observations ==

Perennial, dioecious herb with unarmed stem, twining to the right. Tuber 1 per year, subclavate, up to 5 cm in diameter, up to 1 m deep in the soil, with white to pinkish-white flesh. Bulbils absent. Leaves simple, usually alternate, opposite on thicker stems; petiole as long as the blade; blade cordate, up to 15 cm × 12 cm, herbaceous, auricles somewhat hastately extended. Male flowering spikes negatively geotropic; axes 2-4 together in fascicles in the axil of upper leaves, up to 7 cm long, with about 60 sessile, relatively large flowers. Female flowering axes solitary, up to 22 cm long, with up to 35 flowers. Capsule wings up to 22 mm × 15 mm, ashy-green when dry. The species is abundant at low elevations in areas with a drier period in the prevailing climate (e.g. around Manila). Starch grains of the tuber are round to oval, averaging 35μm × 26μm. ''D. luzonensis'' resembles ''D. divaricata'' Blanco, but the tubers do not reach as deep and the stems are not spiny.

== Selected sources ==

9, 22, 60.

== Authors ==

L.E. Groen, J.S. Siemonsma & P.C.M. Jansen

[[Category:Carbohydrates (PROSEA)]]
[[Category:PROSEA]]