DIOSCOREA BULBIFERA

This member of the Dioscoreaceae family was given this name by Carl Linnaeus in 1753. It is found in tropical Asia and Africa (and now in southern USA and northern South Africa), growing in a rich and well drained soil with some water and little to some sun. The caudex can grow to 18 centimetres in diameter, the vines can reach for six metres. The rarely seen flowers are tiny and white. Dioscorea is named after Pedianos Dioscorides, a Greek physician if the 1st century A.D. The species name means 'bearing bulbs', for the bulbs on the stems. Photo by Alex Smirnov. It originates from: Andaman Is., Angola, Assam, Bangladesh, Benin, Borneo, Burkina, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Caprivi Strip, Caroline Is., Central African Repu, Chad, China North-Central, China South-Central, China Southeast, Christmas I., Congo, East Himalaya, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Gulf of Guinea Is., Hainan, India, Ivory Coast, Japan, Jawa, Kenya, Korea, Laccadive Is., Laos, Lesser Sunda Is., Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaya, Mali, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nansei-shoto, Nepal, New Guinea, Nigeria, Northern Territory, Pakistan, Philippines, Queensland, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, Tibet, Togo, Uganda, Vietnam, West Himalaya, Western Australia, Zambia, Zaïre, Zimbabwe.