
This is one of my first caudiciforms.

This is a photo from Copenhagen Botanical Garden, which have a really big
one.

Wild ones from Clanwilliam,
South Africa.



Hiding under bushes.

Male flowers.

Female
flowers.

Female flowers.

And wild fruits
from Clanwilliam, South Africa.
|
Author: |
Heinrich Gustav Adolf Engler,
1908 |
Family: |
DIOSCOREACEAE |
Origin: |
Southern
South Africa |
Soil: |
Rich Mix |
Water:
|
Medium |
Sun: |
Medium - Maximum |
Thickness: |
1
Meter |
Height: |
5
Meters |
Flower:
|
Pale Yellow |
Propagate: |
Seeds |
Names:
|
Elephants Foot,
Hottentot-Bread. |
Synonyms: |
Testudinaria
elephantipes, Salisb/Lindley,
1825.
Tamus
elephantipes L'Héritier, 1788.
Rhizemys elephantipes Raf.
1836.
Dioscorea montana Spreng. 1927.
Dioscorea elephantopus, Spreng.
Dioscorea testudinaria, R.Knuth.
Rhizemys montana, Raf.
Testudinaria elephantipes f. montana, G.D.Rowley.
Testudinaria montana, Burch. |
This beautiful member of the Dioscoreaceae
family was given this name
by Heinrich Gustav Adolf Engler in 1908. It is from southern
South Africa, where it prefer a slightly rich but well drained soil with
some water and some to lots of sun. The caudex
will grow to more than a meter in diameter, the vines reaches easy five
meters. Both male and female flowers are pale yellow, and the seeds the only
way to reproduce.
Dioscorea is named after
Pedianos Dioscorides, a Greek physician if the 1st century A.D. The
species name means 'elephant foot'.
My plant is dormant from time to time! It seems like it will never learn
to live in the northern hemisphere. The caudex must be kept in shade.
I have heard of one, who had sown three seeds from the same plant, in one
pot. One of them was a winter-grower, the other one a summer-grower
and the third from time to time - in the same pot still!
This
is the record of dormancy of my plant. It did not get out of
the last one.
|

It's a dioecious caudiciform, I got two, but I haven't seen them flower.
This is male-flowers from Copenhagen Botanical Garden.

Fruits from and by
Enrico Santimaria.

This
is fruits from Copenhagen Botanical Garden.

And from
Copenhagen Botanical Garden.

Not the most
nice Origin! Taken over by a dumpsite.

Seen to the
other side, it is lovely.

Tend to be like
this, when it is grown real rough, like in nature.

Female
flowers.

Female flowers.
|