Tubers vertical, cylindric; cork drying brown, persistent; transverse section white. Stem twining to right, glabrous, prickly at base. Leaves alternate basally on stem, opposite distally on stem, simple; leaf blade elliptic-ovate to broadly lanceolate, 4--14(--17) × 1.5--8(--13) cm, papery, glabrous, basal veins 5 or 7, outermost ones near margin, base sagittate or hastate to deeply cordate or rounded with basal lobes slightly spreading, apex acuminate or caudate. Male spikes 2--4 together, 1.5--3 cm, in axillary panicles to 40 cm; rachis zigzagged. Male flowers: outer perianth lobes broadly ovate, 1.5--2 mm, inner ones obovate, narrower but thicker than outer; stamens 6. Female spike often solitary, to 25 cm in fruit. Capsule not reflexed, oblate, 1.5--3 cm; wings 1--2.2 cm wide. Seeds inserted near middle of capsule, winged all round. Fl. Oct--Jan, fr. Dec--Jan.
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A yam. The tubers are vertical and cylinder shaped. The stems twine to the right. They are prickly at the base. The leaves are alternate near the base and opposite higher up. They are simple and oval and 4-14 cm long by 2-8 cm wide.
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