Dioscorea puber (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Dioscorea puber Blume

Family: Dioscoreaceae

Synonyms

Dioscorea anguina Roxburgh, D. cornifolia Kunth.

Distribution

Widely distributed in northern India, its natural home, with outposts in southern India and in Indonesia (Sumatra, Java).

Uses

The tubers are used for food in India.

Observations

Perennial, dioecious, pubescent herb with warted but unarmed stem, twining to the right. Tubers 1-2 each year, up to 2 m deep in the soil on long stalks, up to 8 cm in diameter, with tawny-orange skin and lemon-yellow, fibrous flesh. Bulbils large. Leaves usually alternate; petiole as long as the blade; blade ovate-cordate, 12-24 cm × 9-20 cm, lower surface always pubescent, upper side glabrescent, margin hyaline. Male flowering axes 1-2 together on leafless branches up to 18 cm long, up to 2 cm long with 30 or more sessile flowers each. Female flowering axes 1-3 together, up to 15 cm long with up to 40 flowers each. Capsule wings up to 15 mm × 18 mm. Sometimes remarkable large leaves are present. In Java, ripe fruits have never been observed.

Selected sources

22.

Authors

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