Dioscorea hastifolia Nees

Tuber cylindroidal, 10–25 cm long, to 1.5 cm diam., sometimes branched. Stems twining, to 2 m long, terete, glabrous. Bulbils absent. Leaves: lamina linear to narrowly triangular, 15–90 mm long, 1.5–20 mm wide, usually hastate or rounded at base (rarely truncate or cuneate), acute at apex, 1–5-veined, glabrous; petiole 1–4 mm long. Male flowers: spikes 1–3 per axil, to 10 cm long, sometimes branched; sepals and petals ovate, 1–2 mm long, yellow; stamens 6. Female flowers: racemes 1 or 2 per axil, to 9 cm long; perianth slightly smaller than male; staminodes 6. Capsule suborbicular to broadly ovate in lateral view, truncate or rounded at apex, rarely obcordate, 12–23 mm long; lobes 7–12 mm wide. Seeds 3.5–4 mm long; wing 1–3 mm wide.

A tropical plant. It grows in temperate and subtropical places. It grows in fertile soils. It needs a sunny situation and a well drained soil.

It is grown from shoots and the tips of the yam tubers. It can also be grown from seed.