DIOSCOREA TOKORO

This dioecious member of the Dioscoreaceae family was given this name by Tomitarô Makino in 1894. It is found in Japan, Korea and China, growing in a rich and well drained soil with some water and little to some sun. The rhizomes can grow to only seven to ten millimetres, the vines up to three metres. The small flowers are greenish yellow. It forms tubercles on the vines. Dioscorea is named after Pedianos Dioscorides, a Greek physician if the 1st century A.D. The species name after the town it was found outside. I do have to confess: This might not be considered a caudiciform, with the thin rhizomes, after all. Tubercles are formed in the leaf axils. Photo by Qwert1234, Wikimedia.org.