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Dioscorea villosa

Botanic Family

Dioscoreaceae

Author

Linnaeus

Common Names

• Wild Yam
• Kaile (Fiji)
• Hoei (Tahiti)
• Hoy (Hawaii)
• Yam
• Wild Yam-root

Geographical Habitats

• S. Ontario - Canada
• Mexico
• Alabama
• Arkansas
• Connecticut
• Delaware
• District of Colombia
• Florida
• Georgia
• Illinois
• Indiana
• Iowa
• Kansas
• Kentucky
• Louisiana
• Maryland
• Massachusetts
• Michigan
• Minnesota
• Mississippi
• Missouri
• Nebraska
• New Jersey
• New York
• North Carolina
• Ohio
• Oklahoma
• Pennsylvania
• Rhode Island
• South Carolina
• Tennessee
• Texas
• Vermont
• Virginia
• West Virginia
• Wisconsin - U.S.A.

Natural Habitats

• Shady woodland
• brush in forest
• edge of road
• thickets. Edible tuber

Flowering Times

• May
• Jun
• Jul
• Sep
• Oct

Fruiting Times

• Jun
• Aug
• Oct

Deciduous rhizomatous vine, rhizome to 500mm x 8mm with twining woolly stems to 5m. Mucronate leaves to 300mm long, glabrous above, pubescent beneath. White or greenish-yellow flowers, male flowers in axillary panicles with flowers 3mm across, racemes of pistillate flowers. Fruit a 3-winged 35mm long dark brown capsule

Further References

• Bailey 1976
• Mobot
• Bodkin
• The Plant List 2
• Fedde
• FV
• FOTA
• FOSEUS
• USDA
• SAFIO
• Kew