Dioscorea bulbifera | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Monocots |
Order: | Dioscoreales |
Family: | Dioscoreaceae |
Genus: | Dioscorea |
Species: | D. bulbifera |
Binomial name | |
Dioscorea bulbifera | |
Synonyms [1] | |
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Dioscorea bulbifera (commonly known as the air potato, air yam, bitter yam, cheeky yam, potato yam, [2] aerial yam, [3] and parsnip yam [4] ) is a species of true yam in the yam family, Dioscoreaceae. It is native to Africa, Asia and northern Australia. [1] It is widely cultivated and has become naturalized in many regions (Latin America, the West Indies, the Southeastern United States, and various oceanic islands). [1]
It is also known as the up-yam in Nigerian Pidgin English, since the plant is cultivated more for its bulbils than for its tubers. [5]
Dioscorea bulbifera is a perennial vine with broad, alternate leaves, and two types of storage organs. The plant forms bulbils in the leaf axils of the twining stems, and tubers beneath the ground. These tubers are like small, oblong potatoes. Some varieties are edible and cultivated as a food crop, especially in West Africa. The tubers of edible varieties often have a bitter taste, which can be removed by boiling. They can then be prepared in the same way as other yams, potatoes, and sweet potatoes.
Air potato can grow extremely quickly, roughly 8 inches per day, and eventually reach over 60 ft long. [6] It typically climbs to the tops of trees and has a tendency to take over native plants. New plants develop from bulbils that form on the plant, and these bulbils serve as a means of dispersal. The aerial stems of air potato die back in winter, but resprouting occurs from bulbils and underground tubers.
The primary means of spread and reproduction are by the bulbils. The smallest bulbils make control of air potato difficult due to their ability to sprout at a very small stage. The vine produces small white flowers; however, these are rarely seen when it grows in Florida. The fruits are capsules. [7]
Air potato has been used as a folk remedy to treat conjunctivitis, diarrhoea, and dysentery, among other ailments. [8]
D. bulbifera is highly important to the Tiwi people of Australia, who use it in an important ceremony called kulama. During the ceremony, the tubers are ritually cooked, and eaten on the third day. [9]
Uncultivated forms, such as those found growing wild in Florida, can be poisonous. These varieties contain the steroid diosgenin, which is a principal material used in the manufacture of a number of synthetic steroidal hormones, such as those used in hormonal contraception. [2] There have been claims [10] that even the wild forms are rendered edible after drying and boiling, leading to confusion over actual toxicity.
In some places, such as Florida, it is considered a noxious weed because of its quick-growing, large-leafed vine that spreads tenaciously and shades out any plants growing beneath it. The bulbils on the vines sprout and become new vines, twisting around each other to form a thick mat. If the plant is cut to the ground, the tubers can survive for extended periods and send up new shoots later. [11]
The leaf beetle Lilioceris cheni has been studied and employed as an agent of biological pest control for the plant, with releases in 2012. [12] [13]
Tubers are a type of enlarged structure used as storage organs for nutrients in some plants, usually stems, but some definitions refer to roots. Tubers help plants perennate, provide energy and nutrients, and are a means of asexual reproduction.
Root vegetables are underground plant parts eaten by humans as food. In agricultural and culinary terminology, the term applies to true roots such as taproots and tuberous roots as well as non-roots such as bulbs, corms, rhizomes, and stem tubers.
Dioscorea alata – also called purple yam, ube, or greater yam, among many other names – is a species of yam. The tubers are usually a vivid violet-purple to bright lavender in color, but some range in color from cream to plain white. It is sometimes confused with taro and the Okinawa sweet potato beniimo (紅芋), however D. alata is also grown in Okinawa. With its origins in the Asian tropics, D. alata has been known to humans since ancient times.
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 was named by the monk Charles Plumier after the ancient Greek physician and botanist Dioscorides.
Dioscorea communis or Tamus communis is a species of flowering plant in the yam family Dioscoreaceae and is commonly known as black bryony, lady's-seal or black bindweed.
Yam is the common name for some plant species in the genus Dioscorea that form edible tubers.
Dioscorea polystachya or Chinese yam, also called cinnamon-vine, is a species of flowering plant in the yam family. It is sometimes called Chinese potato or by its Korean name ma. It is also called huaishan in Mandarin and wàaih sāan in Cantonese.
Anredera cordifolia, commonly known as the Madeira vine or mignonette vine, is a South American species of ornamental succulent vine of the family Basellaceae. The combination of fleshy leaves and thick aerial tubers makes this a very heavy vine. It smothers trees and other vegetation it grows on and can easily break branches and bring down entire trees on its own. Other names include lamb's tail and potato vine.
A bulbil is a small, young plant that is reproduced vegetatively from axillary buds on the parent plant's stem or in place of a flower on an inflorescence. These young plants are clones of the parent plant that produced them—they have identical genetic material. The formation of bulbils is a form of asexual reproduction, as they can eventually go on to form new stand-alone plants.
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.
Dioscorea trifida is a species of flowering plant in the family Dioscoreaceae. It is a species of yam. It is native to the Caribbean and Central and South America. Its many common names include Indian yam, cush-cush, and yampee. It is called mapuey in Venezuela, inhame in Brazil, tabena and ñame in Colombia, sacha papa in Peru, and ñampi in Costa Rica.
Tacca leontopetaloides is a species of flowering plant in the yam family Dioscoreaceae. It is native to Island Southeast Asia but have been introduced as canoe plants throughout the Indo-Pacific tropics by Austronesian peoples during prehistoric times. They have become naturalized to tropical Africa, South Asia, northern Australia, and Oceania. Common names include Polynesian arrowroot, Fiji arrowroot, East Indies arrowroot, pia, and seashore bat lily.
Dioscorea transversa, the pencil yam, is a vine of eastern and northern Australia.
Dioscorea orangeana, is a tuberous vining flowering plant in the genus Dioscorea, endemic the Forêt d’Orangea near Antsiranana in Madagascar, from which it derives its name. The tuber is possibly edible, and unlike most other Dioscorea species, the tuber has many finger-like lobes as opposed to a single tuber. Because the plant is new to science and the possible harvesting by local populations, the conservation status of Dioscorea orangeana is of great concern.
Nigeria is by far the world’s largest producer of yams, accounting for over 70–76 percent of the world production. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization report, in 1985, Nigeria produced 18.3 million tonnes of yam from 1.5 million hectares, representing 73.8 percent of total yam production in Africa. According to 2008 figures, yam production in Nigeria has nearly doubled since 1985, with Nigeria producing 35.017 million metric tonnes with value equivalent of US$5.654 billion. In perspective, the world's second and third largest producers of yams, Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana, only produced 6.9 and 4.8 million tonnes of yams in 2008 respectively. According to the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Nigeria accounted for about 70 percent of the world production amounting to 17 million tonnes from land area 2,837,000 hectares under yam cultivation.
Dioscorea pentaphylla is a species of flowering plant in the yam family known by the common name fiveleaf yam. It is native to southern and eastern Asia as well as New Guinea and northern Australia. It is widely cultivated as a food crop and naturalized in Cuba and on several island chains in the Pacific.
Dioscorea sansibarensis is a species of flowering plant in the yam family known by the common name Zanzibar yam. It is native to Madagascar and to tropical Africa from Tanzania west to Guinea and south to Mozambique, and it is known elsewhere as an introduced species.
Lilioceris cheni, the air potato leaf beetle, is a species of beetle in the genus Lilioceris that feeds on air potato plants. Air potatoes and the beetles are both native to Asia but have been introduced elsewhere. The air potato plants are an invasive species found throughout Florida, and the beetles were introduced in 2012 by biologists in Florida to help control the spread of the air potato.
Dioscorea dumetorum, also known as the bitter yam, cluster yam, trifoliate yam, or three-leaved yam, is a species of flowering plant in the yam family, Dioscorea. It is native to sub-Saharan Africa and especially common in the tropical regions of West Africa, including Nigeria, Benin, and Ghana. D. dumetorum has both toxic and non-toxic varieties.