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Tuber descending deeply into the soil, 1 m or more long; flesh white, edible. Plant glabrous. Stem armed at the base, smooth, to 4 mm in diameter. Bulbils not produced. Leaves alternate, herbaceous, broadly cordate, shortly acuminate, to 25 by 25 cm, 7-nerved; lower surface somewhat glaucous; petiole about as long as the lamina, its lower pulvinus as a rule tinged with a purplish red. Male flowering axes on leafless axillary branches not exceeding 10 cm which have a characteristic pyramidal shape; axes that bear the flowers to 5 cm long carrying 20-30 flowers spaced rather more than their own diameter apart. Buds globose, 1 mm in diameter. Female flowering axes 1-2 together, to 50 cm long. Capsules usually not more than 5 on an infructescence; apex rounded or truncate; base obtuse or rounded; wings 18 by 15-18 mm; stipe about 4 mm long.
A yam. The stem has prickles near the base. The stems twine in a right handed direction. The stems can be 20 m long. The tuber is up to 1 m long and 6 cm wide and deeply buried in the soil. The flesh is white. The leaves are a rounded heart shape. Plants are separately male and female.
