dcsimg
Image of lesser yam
Creatures » » Plants » » Dicotyledons » » Yam Family »

Lesser Yam

Dioscorea esculenta (Lour.) Burkill

Comments

provided by eFloras
Known to have been cultivated in S China for at least 1700 years. The thornless forms are probably selections from an original, thorny form.
license
cc-by-nc-sa-3.0
copyright
Missouri Botanical Garden, 4344 Shaw Boulevard, St. Louis, MO, 63110 USA
bibliographic citation
Flora of China Vol. 24: 284 in eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden. Accessed Nov 12, 2008.
source
Flora of China @ eFloras.org
editor
Wu Zhengyi, Peter H. Raven & Hong Deyuan
project
eFloras.org
original
visit source
partner site
eFloras

Description

provided by eFloras
Tubers usually 4--10, produced from apical branches of rhizome; cork light yellow, smooth; thorny roots present or absent. Stem twining to left, with T-shaped, soft hairs, proximally prickly, distally so only at nodes. Leaves alternate, simple; petiole 5--8 cm; leaf blade broadly cordate, to 15 × 17 cm, with T-shaped hairs especially abaxially, basal veins 9--13, base cordate, apex acute. Male spike solitary, dense, ca. 15 cm. Male flowers: usually solitary, rarely in cymules of 2--4, sessile or subsessile; bract ovate; perianth shallowly cupular, puberulent, outer lobes broadly lanceolate, ca. 1.8 mm, inner ones slightly shorter than outer; stamens 6, inserted in perianth tube, slightly shorter than perianth lobes. Female spike solitary, pendent, to 40 cm. Capsule very seldom maturing, ca. 3 cm, base truncate, apex slightly emarginate; wings ca. 1.2 cm wide. Seeds inserted near middle of capsule, winged all round. Fl. early summer.
license
cc-by-nc-sa-3.0
copyright
Missouri Botanical Garden, 4344 Shaw Boulevard, St. Louis, MO, 63110 USA
bibliographic citation
Flora of China Vol. 24: 284 in eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden. Accessed Nov 12, 2008.
source
Flora of China @ eFloras.org
editor
Wu Zhengyi, Peter H. Raven & Hong Deyuan
project
eFloras.org
original
visit source
partner site
eFloras

Distribution

provided by eFloras
Widely cultivated in tropical Asia.
license
cc-by-nc-sa-3.0
copyright
Missouri Botanical Garden, 4344 Shaw Boulevard, St. Louis, MO, 63110 USA
bibliographic citation
Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal Vol. 0 in eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden. Accessed Nov 12, 2008.
source
Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal @ eFloras.org
author
K.K. Shrestha, J.R. Press and D.A. Sutton
project
eFloras.org
original
visit source
partner site
eFloras

Habitat & Distribution

provided by eFloras
Cultivated. S Guangxi, Hainan, Taiwan [native to India, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, and Thailand; long cultivated in tropical Asia].
license
cc-by-nc-sa-3.0
copyright
Missouri Botanical Garden, 4344 Shaw Boulevard, St. Louis, MO, 63110 USA
bibliographic citation
Flora of China Vol. 24: 284 in eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden. Accessed Nov 12, 2008.
source
Flora of China @ eFloras.org
editor
Wu Zhengyi, Peter H. Raven & Hong Deyuan
project
eFloras.org
original
visit source
partner site
eFloras

Dioscorea esculenta

provided by wikipedia EN

Dioscorea esculenta, commonly known as the lesser yam, is a yam species native to Island Southeast Asia and introduced to Near Oceania and East Africa by early Austronesian voyagers. It is grown for their edible tubers, though it has smaller tubers than the more widely-cultivated Dioscorea alata and is usually spiny.[2]

Names

In Vietnam, it is called khoai từ or củ từ. It is used to make chè củ từ, also referred to as chè khoai từ. In Tagalog, it is known as tugi, while in Cebuano it is called apali. It is cultivated in Kerala, Goa, Konkan parts of Maharashtra India. In Malayalam, it is known as nana kizhangu or nheruvalli kizhangu or Cheru Kizhangu". In Goa it is called Kaate Kanaga (काटे कणगा ), It is a climber which needs support and goes coiling around the support.

History of cultivation

The lesser yam is the second most important yam crop among Austronesians. Like D. alata, it requires minimal processing, unlike the other more bitter yam species. However, it has smaller tubers than D. alata and is usually spiny. Like D. alata it was introduced to Madagascar and the Comoros by Austronesians, where it spread to the East African coast.[3][4][5] They are also a dominant crop in Near Oceania, However, it did not reach to the furthest islands in Polynesia, being absent in Hawaii and New Zealand.[6][7][8]

Starch grains identified to be from the lesser yam have been recovered from archaeological sites of the Lapita culture in Viti Levu, Fiji, dated to around 3,050 to 2,500 cal BP.[9] D. esculenta is believed to have been introduced by the Lapita culture into New Guinea, along with agricultural innovations like wet cultivation.[10][11] Traces of D. esculenta (along with D. alata, D. bulbifera, D. nummularia and D. pentaphylla) yams have also been identified from the Mé Auré Cave site in Moindou, New Caledonia, dated to around 2,700 to 1,800 BP.[12] Remains of D. esculenta have also been recovered from archaeological sites in Guam, dated to around 1031 CE.[13]

Taxonomy

Belonging to the genus Dioscorea, Dioscorea esculenta describes the plant's ability to produce edible roots.

Description

The plant's stems are round and thin, with big, black compound spines that are 2–4 cm long. The leaves are soft, heart-shaped, and 5–8 cm long and 6–8 cm wide.[14]

See also

References

  1. ^ Gardens' Bulletin. Straits Settlements. Singapore 1:396. 1917. Plant Name Details for Dioscorea esculenta. IPNI. Vol. 1. Retrieved 24 September 2017.
  2. ^ Andres, C.; AdeOluwa, O.O.; Bhullar, G.S. (2016). "Yam (Dioscorea spp.)". In Thomas, Brian; Murphy, Denis J.; Murray, Brian G. (eds.). Encyclopedia of Applied Plant Sciences (2nd ed.). Academic Press. pp. 435–441. ISBN 9780123948076.
  3. ^ Blench, Roger (2010). "Evidence for the Austronesian Voyages in the Indian Ocean" (PDF). In Anderson, Atholl; Barrett, James H.; Boyle, Katherine V. (eds.). The Global Origins and Development of Seafaring. McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research. pp. 239–248. ISBN 9781902937526.
  4. ^ Beaujard, Philippe (August 2011). "The first migrants to Madagascar and their introduction of plants: linguistic and ethnological evidence" (PDF). Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa. 46 (2): 169–189. doi:10.1080/0067270X.2011.580142. S2CID 55763047.
  5. ^ Hoogervorst, Tom (2013). "If Only Plants Could talk...: Reconstructing Pre-Modern Biological Translocations in the Indian Ocean" (PDF). In Chandra, Satish; Prabha Ray, Himanshu (eds.). The Sea, Identity and History: From the Bay of Bengal to the South China Sea. Manohar. pp. 67–92. ISBN 9788173049866.
  6. ^ Kirch, Patrick Vinton; Green, Roger C. (2001). Hawaiki, Ancestral Polynesia: An Essay in Historical Anthropology. Cambridge University Press. p. 267. ISBN 9780521788793.
  7. ^ Sykes, W. R. (December 2003). "Dioscoreaceae, new for the adventive flora of New Zealand". New Zealand Journal of Botany. 41 (4): 727–730. doi:10.1080/0028825X.2003.9512884. S2CID 85828982.
  8. ^ White, Lynton Dove. "Uhi". Na Meakanu o Wa`a o Hawai`i Kahiko: The "Canoe Plants" of Ancient Hawai`i. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
  9. ^ Horrocks, Mark; Nunn, Patrick D. (May 2007). "Evidence for introduced taro (Colocasia esculenta) and lesser yam (Dioscorea esculenta) in Lapita-era (c. 3050–2500cal.yrBP) deposits from Bourewa, southwest Viti Levu Island, Fiji". Journal of Archaeological Science. 34 (5): 739–748. doi:10.1016/j.jas.2006.07.011.
  10. ^ Chaïr, H.; Traore, R. E.; Duval, M. F.; Rivallan, R.; Mukherjee, A.; Aboagye, L. M.; Van Rensburg, W. J.; Andrianavalona, V.; Pinheiro de Carvalho, M. A. A.; Saborio, F.; Sri Prana, M.; Komolong, B.; Lawac, F.; Lebot, V.; Chiang, Tzen-Yuh (17 June 2016). "Genetic Diversification and Dispersal of Taro (Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott)". PLOS ONE. 11 (6): e0157712. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0157712. PMC 4912093. PMID 27314588.
  11. ^ Bayliss-Smith, Tim; Golson, Jack; Hughes, Philip (2017). "Phase 4: Major Disposal Channels, Slot-Like Ditches and Grid-Patterned Fields". In Golson, Jack; Denham, Tim; Hughes, Philip; Swadling, Pamela; Muke, John (eds.). Ten Thousand Years of Cultivation at Kuk Swamp in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea. terra australis. Vol. 46. ANU Press. pp. 239–268. ISBN 9781760461164.
  12. ^ Horrocks, M.; Grant-Mackie, J.; Matisoo-Smith, E. (January 2008). "Introduced taro (Colocasia esculenta) and yams (Dioscorea spp.) in Podtanean (2700–1800years BP) deposits from Mé Auré Cave (WMD007), Moindou, New Caledonia". Journal of Archaeological Science. 35 (1): 169–180. doi:10.1016/j.jas.2007.03.001.
  13. ^ Moore, Darlene R. (2005). "Archaeological Evidence of a Prehistoric Farming Technique on Guam" (PDF). Micronesica. 38 (1): 93–120.
  14. ^ Tanaka, Yoshitaka; Van Ke, Nguyen (2007). Edible Wild Plants of Vietnam: The Bountiful Garden. Thailand: Orchid Press. p. 74. ISBN 978-9745240896.

license
cc-by-sa-3.0
copyright
Wikipedia authors and editors
original
visit source
partner site
wikipedia EN

Dioscorea esculenta: Brief Summary

provided by wikipedia EN

Dioscorea esculenta, commonly known as the lesser yam, is a yam species native to Island Southeast Asia and introduced to Near Oceania and East Africa by early Austronesian voyagers. It is grown for their edible tubers, though it has smaller tubers than the more widely-cultivated Dioscorea alata and is usually spiny.

license
cc-by-sa-3.0
copyright
Wikipedia authors and editors
original
visit source
partner site
wikipedia EN