Dioscorea cirrhosa Lour.

Species

Angiosperms > Dioscoreales > Dioscoreaceae > Dioscorea

Characteristics

Tubers globose, ovoid, gourd-shaped, oblong, or cylindric; cork dark brown; transverse section light brown or red, drying purplish black. Stem twining to right, branched, green, to 20 m, glabrous, prickly at base. Leaves alternate basally on stem, opposite distally on stem, simple; petiole 2--6 cm; leaf blade adaxially dark green, abaxially whitish, ovate to linear, 5--20 × 0.6--14 cm, leathery or subleathery, glabrous, basal veins 3 or 5, reticulate veins prominent, base rounded, sometimes triangular lobed, margin entire, apex acute or acuminate. Male spikes 2--10 cm, in axillary panicles 2--14 cm or longer; rachis straight. Male flowers: outer perianth lobes ovate or broadly so, ca. 2 mm, inner ones obovate; stamens 6, slightly shorter than perianth lobes. Female spike solitary, to 12 cm. Capsule not reflexed, oblate, 1.8--3.5 cm, base emarginate, attenuate into pedicel ca. 7 mm, apex emarginate; wings 1.2--2.7 cm wide. Seeds inserted near middle of capsule, 1.8--2.4 cm in diam. (ca. 0.6 cm excluding wing), winged all round, Fl. Apr--Jun, fr. Jul--Jan.
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A yam. It is a vine. It keeps growing from year to year. It has a large underground tuber. The tubers can vary in shape. This produces annual stems that are scrambling or twining. The stems twine to the right. They can be 20 m long. They are prickly at the base. The leaves are whitish underneath. They are oval and 5-20 cm long by 1-14 cm wide.
Life form perennial
Growth form herb
Growth support -
Foliage retention -
Sexuality dioecy
Pollination -
Spread -
Mature width (meter) -
Mature height (meter) 10.0
Root system -
Rooting depth (meter) -
Root diameter (meter) -
Flower color -
Blooming months
JanFebMar
AprMayJun
JulAugSep
OctNovDec
Fruit color -
Fruiting months
JanFebMar
AprMayJun
JulAugSep
OctNovDec
Nitrogen fixer -
Photosynthetic pathway -

Environment

It is a tropical plant. It grows in secondary forest. In southern China it grows up to 1,500 m above sea level. In Sichuan and Yunnan.
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Thickets and secondary forests, usually in the lowland, but in southern China up to elevations of 1,500 metres.
Light -
Soil humidity -
Soil texture -
Soil acidity -
Soil nutriment -
Hardiness (USDA) 8-12

Usage

The tubers are cooked and eaten as a vegetable.
Uses dye gene source material medicinal
Edible roots tubers
Therapeutic use -
Human toxicity -
Animal toxicity -

Cultivation

Can be grown by seedlings.
Mode seedlings
Germination duration (days) 21 - 36
Germination temperacture (C°) 21 - 23
Germination luminosity -
Germination treatment -
Minimum temperature (C°) -
Optimum temperature (C°) -
Size -
Vigor -
Productivity -

Distribution

Dioscorea cirrhosa world distribution map, present in China, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Thailand, Taiwan, Province of China, and Viet Nam

Identifiers

LSID urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:317807-1
WFO ID wfo-0000389893
COL ID 36CHL
BDTFX ID -
INPN ID -
Wikipedia (EN)
Wikipedia (FR)

Synonyms

Dioscorea cirrhosa Smilax petiolatumida Dioscorea angusta Dioscorea bonnetii Dioscorea camphorifolia Dioscorea intempestiva Dioscorea matsudae Dioscorea rhipogonoides Strophis cirrhosa Dioscorea cirrhosa var. cylindrica Dioscorea cirrhosa var. cirrhosa