Photo
by Harold St. John; University of Hawaií.
Photo by Wojciech Maksymilian Szymanski.
Photo by Wojciech Maksymilian Szymanski.
Fruits by Himesh Dilruwan
Jayasinghe, Powo.science.kew.org.
Male flowers by Himesh Dilruwan
Jayasinghe, Powo.science.kew.org. |
| Author: | Carl von
Linnaeus, 1753 |
| Family: |
DIOSCOREACEAE |
| Origin: |
Assam,
Bangladesh, Borneo, Cambodia, Caroline Island, China, East
Himalaya, India, Java, Laos, Lesser Sunda Island, Malaya,
Maldives, Maluku, Myanmar, Nepal, New Guinea, Philippines,
Queensland; Australia, Sri Lanka, Sulawesi + Sumatera; Indonesia,
Taiwan, Thailand, Tibet, Vietnam, West Himalaya
(Cuba, Hawaii) |
| Soil: |
Rich |
| Water:
|
Maximum |
| Sun: |
Minimum -
Medium |
| Thickness: |
25 Centimetres |
| Height: |
10 Metres |
| Flower:
|
Greenish
White |
| Propagate: |
Seeds/Bulbils |
| Names:
|
Fiveleaf
Yam |
| Synonyms: |
Dioscorea spinosa Burm 1769.
Dioscorea
codonopsidifolia Kamik, 1935.
Dioscorea
changjiangensis F.W.Xing & Z.X. Li, 1995.
Dioscorea digitata. Mill.
Dioscorea globifera, R.Knuth.
Dioscorea jacquemonti,i Hook.f.
Dioscorea kleiniana, Kunth.
Dioscorea pentaphylla var. papuana, Burkill.
Dioscorea sumbawensi, R.Knuth.
Dioscorea triphylla, L.
Hamatris triphylla, Salisb.
Ubium quadrifarium, J.F.Gmel.
Ubium scandens, J.St.-Hil. |
This member of the
Dioscoreaceae family was given this name by Carl von
Linnaeus in
1753. It is found
in Australia, and a good part of Asia (and brought to Cuba and Hawaii), growing in a rich soil with
quite some water and little sun. The caudex can grow to 25
centimetres in diameter, the entire plant to ten metres in
height. The
flowers are greenish white.
Due to its large range, many
subspecies have been described.
Dioscorea is named after
Pedianos Dioscorides, a Greek physician if the 1st century A.D. The
species name means 'having five leaves'. |
