Taxon: Dioscorea bulbifera L.

• the 20 historical accession(s) associated with this name.
• Check PlantSearch database of Botanic Gardens Conservation International for possible non-NPGS germplasm.

A declared aquatic or terrestrial noxious weed and/or noxious-weed seed in these U.S. states (see state noxious weed lists), with links to state information or web documents:

AL*, FL*.

ªAquatic.

*Terrestrial.

°In seed.

Link to noxious weed information from

Link to species profile at

Common names:

• aerial yam   (Source: F Ceylon ) – English
  
• air-potato   (Source: World Econ Pl ) – English
  
• bitter yam   (Source: F Hawaii ) – English
  
• cheeky yam   (Source: Econ Pl Aust ) – English
  
• potato yam   (Source: Dict Rehm ) – English
  
• igname bulbifère   (Source: Pl Res SEAs 9:85.) – French
  
• pousse en l'air   (Source: Dict Rehm ) – French
  
• Brotwurzel   (Source: Zander ed17 ) – German
  
• Yamswurzel   (Source: Zander ed17 ) – German
  
• hoi   (Source: F Hawaii ) – Hawaiian
  
• hoei-oepas   (Source: Names Watson ) – India
  
• inhame   (Source: D. Groth, p.c. 2005) – Portuguese (Brazil)
  
• ñame de gunda   (Source: Dict Rehm ) – Spanish
  
• papa voladora   (Source: F Mesoamer ) – Spanish
  
• potatisjams   (Source: Vara kulturvaxt namn ) – Swedish
  

More:

see MMPND for additional names in foreign scripts

Economic importance:

• Environmental: ornamental   (fide Dict Gard)
  
• Human food: vegetable   (bulbils and tubers are edible, but can be poisonous fide Use Pl WT Afr; Kew Bull 56:380. 2001)
  
• Medicines: folklore   (fide CRC MedHerbs ed2; Herbs Commerce ed2; Kew Bull 56:380. 2001)
  
• Vertebrate poisons: mammals   (fide Poison Hawaii; Kew Bull 56:380. 2001)
  
• Weed: potential seed contaminant   (fide Rep NCEPPC)
  

More:

View toxicology references for Dioscorea bulbifera from FDA Poisonous Plant Database

View phytochemical or ethnobotanical data from Duke's Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases

Distributional range:

• AFRICA
  East Tropical Africa: Tanzania; Uganda
  West-Central Tropical Africa: Cameroon
  West Tropical Africa: Burkina Faso; Cote D'Ivoire; Ghana; Guinea; Liberia; Nigeria; Senegal; Sierra Leone
  Western Indian Ocean: Madagascar; Mauritius; Reunion
• ASIA-TEMPERATE
  China: China [e. & s.]
• ASIA-TROPICAL
  Indian Subcontinent: Bhutan; India; Nepal; Sri Lanka
  Indo-China: Cambodia; Laos; Myanmar; Thailand; Vietnam
  Malesia: Indonesia; Malaysia; Papua New Guinea; Philippines
• AUSTRALASIA
  Australia: Australia - Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia [n.]

• widely naturalized elsewhere

• also cultivated

References:

• Aldén, B., S. Ryman & M. Hjertson. 2009. Våra kulturväxters namn - ursprung och användning. Formas, Stockholm (Handbook on Swedish cultivated and utility plants, their names and origin).
• Arnold, H. L. 1968. Poisonous plants of Hawaii.
• Bosser, J. M. et al., eds. 1976–. Flores des Mascareignes.
• Burkill, H. M. 1985–2004. The useful plants of west tropical Africa.
• Campbell, F. T., ed. 1995. Report of National Coalition of Exotic Plant Pest Councils. (unpublished draft)
• Chinese Academy of Sciences. 1959–. Flora reipublicae popularis sinicae.
• Conant, P. et al. 1997. Appendix. Selected plant species interfering with resource management goals in North American natural areas. In: Luken, J. O. & J. W. Thieret, eds., Assessment and management of plant invasions. 255–267.
• Dassanayake, M. D. & F. R. Fosberg, eds. 1980–. A revised handbook to the flora of Ceylon.
• Davidse, G. et al., eds. 1994. Flora mesoamericana.
• Duke, J. A. et al. 2002. CRC Handbook of medicinal herbs.
• Erhardt, W. et al. 2002. Zander: Handwörterbuch der Pflanzennamen, 17. Auflage.
• FNA Editorial Committee. 1993–. Flora of North America.
• Flach, M. & F. Rumawas, eds. 1996. Plants yielding non-seed carbohydrates. In: Faridah Hanum, I. & L. J. G. van der Maesen, eds., Plant Resources of South-East Asia (PROSEA). 9:85–89.
• Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). 2010. Ecocrop (on-line resource).
• George, A. S., ed. 1980–. Flora of Australia.
• Grierson, A. J. C. & D. J. Long. 1984–. Flora of Bhutan including a record of plants from Sikkim.
• Groth, D. 2005. pers. comm. [re. Brazilian common names].
• Hara, H. et al. 1978–1982. An enumeration of the flowering plants of Nepal.
• Howard, R. 1974–1989. Flora of the lesser Antilles.
• Huxley, A., ed. 1992. The new Royal Horticultural Society dictionary of gardening.
• Keay, R. W. J. & F. N. Hepper. 1953–1972. Flora of west tropical Africa, ed. 2.
• Lazarides, M. & B. Hince. 1993. CSIRO Handbook of Economic Plants of Australia.
• Markle, G. M. et al., eds. 1998. Food and feed crops of the United States, ed. 2.
• McGuffin, M., J. T. Kartesz, A. Y. Leung, & A. O. Tucker. 2000. Herbs of commerce, ed. 2.
• Merrill, E. D. 1922–1926. An enumeration of Philippine flowering plants.
• Porcher, M. H. et al. Searchable World Wide Web Multilingual Multiscript Plant Name Database (MMPND) (on-line resource).
• Rehm, S. 1994. Multilingual dictionary of agronomic plants.
• Steenis, C. G. G. J. van, ed. 1948–. Flora malesiana.
• Turrill, W. B. et al., eds. 1952–. Flora of tropical East Africa.
• USDA National Agricultural Library. National Invasive Species Information Center (on-line resource).
• Wagner, W. L. et al. 1990. Manual of the flowering plants of Hawai'i.
• Watson, J. F. 1868. Index to the native and scientific names of Indian and other eastern economic plants and products.
• Wilkin, P. 2001. Dioscoreaceae of south-central Africa. Kew Bull. 56:379.

More:

Search AGRICOLA article citation database for citations referencing Dioscorea bulbifera.

Search NCBI's Entrez search engine for PubMed citations referencing Dioscorea bulbifera.

Search Biodiversity Heritage Library for historical publications referencing Dioscorea bulbifera.

Synonyms:

• (=) Dioscorea latifolia Benth.
  (previously associated with 6 accessions)

Check other web resources for Dioscorea bulbifera L.:

• Flora of North America: Collaborative Floristic Effort of North American Botanists
• AVH: Australia's Virtual Herbarium
• ABRS: Australian Biological Resources Study Flora of Australia online
• TROPICOS: Nomenclatural and Specimen Database of the Missouri Botanical Garden
• Mansfeld: Mansfeld's World Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Crops
• ePIC: Electronic Plant Information Centre of Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
• AGRICOLA: Article Citation Database or NAL Catalog of USDA's National Agricultural Library
• Entrez: NCBI's search engine for PubMed citations, GenBank sequences, etc.

Images:

• Disseminule drawings: U.S. National Seed Herbarium drawing
• Forestry Images: Images of invasive weeds from www.forestryimages.org

More:

• Check PlantSystematics.org for additional images
• Images Note: Be advised that their identity may be inaccurate. Proper identification of a plant may require specialized taxonomic knowledge or comparison with properly documented herbarium material.

Abbreviations & symbols in GRIN Taxonomy

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