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Hyperocarpa filiformis

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Despite is is quite common in cultivation,
I fail to find a photo of a live plant.


The long roots.

Author:  Barroso, Guimarães, Sucre, 1974
Family:  DIOSCOREACEAE
Origin:  Brazil
Soil:  Rich
Water:  Maximum
Sun:  Minimum - Medium
Thickness:  2 Centimetres
Height:  4 Metres
Flower:  Green
Propagate:  Seeds
Names:  Wild Candle Potato
Synonyms:  Dioscorea filiformis, August Heinrich Rudolf Grisebach, 1842.
Dioscorea grisebachii, Kunth.
Dioscorea gibbiflora
Hook.f.
Dioscorea kunthiana, Uline ex R.Knuth
Dioscorea koordersii R.Knuth.
Dioscorea myriantha
Kunth.
Dioscorea repanda
Blume.

This member of the Dioscoreaceae family was given this name by Graziela Maciel Barroso, Elsie Franklin Guimarães and Benjamin Dimitri Sucre in 1974. It is found as a crop all over Borneo, Java, Lesser Sunda Islands, Malaya, Maluku, Philippines, Sulawesi, Sumatera and Thailand, but originates from Brazil. It is growing in a rich soil with quite some water and little to some sun. The caudex can grow to two centimetres in diameter and 50 centimetres long, the entire plant to four metres in height. The flowers are green.

The genera name from Latin hyper; 'over' and carpa; 'fruit'. The species name means 'thread-forming'.