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Dioscorea alata L.

Subang Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia.

 

Dioscorea alata L. Dioscoreaceae. CN: [Malay - Ubi badak, Ubi jembut, Ubi kerbau tidur, Ubi nasi, Ubi kelapa, Ubi sukun], Greater yam, Guyana arrowroot, Ten-months yam, Water yam, White yam, Purple yam, Winged yam. Origin South East Asia; elsewhere naturalized or cultivated. D. alata is the most extensively cultivated of the edible yam with hundreds of cultivars worldwide. Plants tuberous; tubers 1-many, stalked and ± deeply buried, elongate (highly polymorphic ), often massive, weighing up to several kg , flesh starchy, white or variously colored . Stems twining clockwise, climbing up to 20 m, broadly winged, 4-angular, producing bulbils up to 4 cm in diam. in leaf axils, wings often purplish. Leaves alternate proximally, opposite and ultimately decussate distally, 6-16 × 4-13 cm; petiole ca. as long as blade, winged, base clasping, basal lobes stipulate, growing as extensions of wings, less than 1 mm wide; blade 5-7-veined, ovate, glabrous, base typically sagittate, margins entire, apex acute to acuminate.

 

Synonym(s):

Dioscorea rubella Roxb.

Dioscorea globosa Roxb.

Dioscorea javanica Queva

Dioscorea purpurea Roxb.

Dioscorea sapinii De Wild.

Dioscorea sativa Munro

Dioscorea vulgaris Miq.

and many more - see The Plant List www.theplantlist.org/tpl/record/kew-239747

 

Ref and suggested reading:

www.theplantlist.org/tpl/record/kew-239747

www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?14175

zipcodezoo.com/Plants/D/Dioscorea_alata/

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dioscorea_alata

www.hear.org/species/dioscorea_alata/

 

 

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Uploaded on March 25, 2013
Taken on February 26, 2013