Dioscorea laurifolia

Description

A yam. It keeps growing from year to year by sprouting from the tubers. It is a slender plant. The vines do not have thorns and they twine to the right. There are 1-2 tubers which do not go very deeply into the soil. The flesh is pink or red. The leaves are simple and alternate. They are rough. The leaf stalk is less than half the length of the blade. The leaf blade is oval to sword shaped but varies. The leaf can be 16 cm long by 5 cm wide. The male flowers curve upwards. They can be 7 cm long with 40-60 flowers without stalks. The male flowers have a scent. The female flowers occur as 2 together and are 10 cm long. The flowers have a smell of benzoin.

Edible Uses

The tubers and roots are eaten.

Distribution

A tropical plant. It grows in the mountains in Peninsula Malaysia. It grows up to 1200 m altitude.

Where It Grows

Asia, Himalayas, India, Indochina, Malaysia, Northeastern India, SE Asia, Thailand,

Notes

There are about 650 species of Dioscorea.

Synonyms

Also Known As

Akar kemahang, Akar kemenyan hantu, Clangporn, Eghen ngegek, Kemenyan batu, Serunding

References (6)

• Burkill, I.H., 1966, A Dictionary of the Economic Products of the Malay Peninsula. Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Vol 1 (A-H) p 834
• Castillo, C., 2013, The Archaeobotany of Khao Sam Kaeo and Phu Khao Thong: The Agriculture of Late Prehistoric Southern Thailand. Ph. D. thesis University College, London p 378
• Lim, T. K., 2015, Edible Medicinal and Non Medicinal Plants. Volume 9, Modified Stems, Roots, Bulbs. Springer p 36
• Murtem, G. & Chaudhrey, P., 2016, An ethnobotanical note on wild edible plants of Upper Eastern Himalaya, India. Brazilian Journal of Biological Sciences, 2016, v. 3, no. 5, p. 63-81
• PROSEA handbook Volume 9 Plants yielding non-seed carbohydrates. p 172

More from Dioscoreaceae

Dioscorea pubera

Dioscorea pynaertii

Dioscorea pyrifolia

Marsh benzoin climber

Dioscorea quartiniana

Dioscorea quinquelobata

Dioscorea remotiflora