Dioscorea

Dioscorea
Dioscorea balcanica
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Monocots
Order:	Dioscoreales
Family:	Dioscoreaceae
Genus:	Dioscorea L.
Species
See text

Dioscorea is a genus of over 600 species of flowering plants in the family Dioscoreaceae, native throughout the tropical and warm temperate regions of the world. The vast majority of the species are tropical, with only a few species extending into temperate climates. It is named after the ancient Greek physician and botanist Dioscorides.

They are tuberous herbaceous perennial lianas, growing to 2–12 m or more tall. The leaves are spirally arranged, mostly broad heart-shaped. The flowers are individually inconspicuous, greenish-yellow, with six petals; they are mostly dioecious, with separate male and female plants, though a few species are monoecious, with male and female flowers on the same plant. The fruit is a capsule in most species, a soft berry in a few species.

Several species, known as yams, are important agricultural crops in tropical regions, grown for their large tubers. Many of these are toxic when fresh, but can be detoxified and eaten, and are particularly important in parts of Africa, Asia, and Oceania (see yam article).

Selected species

Dioscorea alata L. Dioscorea althaeoides Knuth Dioscorea altissima Lam. Dioscorea aspersa Prain & Burkill Dioscorea balcanica Kosanin Dioscorea banzhuana C.P'ei & C.T.Ting Dioscorea belophylla Voigt ex Haines Dioscorea benthamii Prain & Burkill Dioscorea bicolor Prain & Burkill Dioscorea biformifolia C.P'ei & C.T.Ting Dioscorea birmanica Prain & Burkill Dioscorea bulbifera L. Dioscorea cayenensis Dioscorea chingii Prain & Burkill Dioscorea cirrhosa Lour. Dioscorea collettii Hook.f. Dioscorea communis (L.) Caddick & Wilkin – see Tamus communis Dioscorea cumingii Prain & Burkill Dioscorea decipiens Hook.f. Dioscorea delavayi Franch. Dioscorea deltoidea Wall. ex Kunth Dioscorea dumetorum Dioscorea elephantipes Dioscorea esculenta Dioscorea esquirolii Dioscorea exalata Dioscorea floridana Bartlett Dioscorea fordii Dioscorea futschauensis Dioscorea garrettii Dioscorea glabra Dioscorea gracillima Dioscorea hastifolia Dioscorea hemsleyi Dioscorea hispida Dioscorea japonica - Shan yao in Chinese (Chinese: 山药; pinyin: Shān yào) Dioscorea kamoonensis

Dioscorea linearicordata Dioscorea martini Dioscorea melanophyma Burkill & Prain Dioscorea menglaensis Dioscorea mexicana Dioscorea nipponica Dioscorea nitens Dioscorea opposita - Shan yao in Chinese (Chinese: 山药; pinyin: Shān yào) Dioscorea orangeana Wilkin[1] Dioscorea panthaica Dioscorea pentaphylla Dioscorea persimilis Dioscorea poilanei Dioscorea polygonoides Dioscorea polystachya Turczaninow Dioscorea preussii Dioscorea quinqueloba Dioscorea rotundata Dioscorea sansibarensis Pax Dioscorea scortechinii Dioscorea simulans Dioscorea sinoparviflora Dioscorea spongiosa Dioscorea subcalva Dioscorea sylvatica Dioscorea tentaculigera Dioscorea tenuipes Dioscorea tokoro Dioscorea transversa Dioscorea trifida Dioscorea velutipes Dioscorea villosa L. Dioscorea wallichii Dioscorea xizangensis Dioscorea yunnanensis Dioscorea zingiberensis

The closely related genus Tamus is included in Dioscorea by some sources,^[2] but is maintained as distinct by others.^[3] For Dioscorea communis (L.) Caddick & Wilkin, see Tamus communis.

See also

• Yams

References

1. ^ Wilkin, Paul; Annette Hladik, Odile Weber, Claude Marcel Hladik, and Vololoniana Jeannoda (September 2009). "Dioscorea orangeana (Dioscoreaceae), a new and threatened species of edible yam from northern Madagascar". Kew Bulletin (Netherlands: Springer) 64 (3): 461–468. doi:10.1007/s12225-009-9126-2. ISSN 1874-933X. http://www.springerlink.com/content/1h1v3261760423gh/. Retrieved 10 June 2010. 
2. ^ World Checklist of Selected Plant Families, The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/home.do, retrieved 2011-05-28 , search for "Tamus"
3. ^ Stace, Clive (2010), New Flora of the British Isles (3rd ed.), Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-70772-5 , p. 854

• Flora Europaea: Dioscorea
• Flora of China: Dioscorea
• Flora of North America: Dioscorea
• Flora of Pakistan: Dioscorea
• USDA Plant Profile: Dioscorea

External links

Media related to Dioscorea at Wikimedia Commons Data related to Dioscorea at Wikispecies