Dioscorea sterilis
O. Weber & Wilkin
DioscoreaceaeRoots
gbif · cc-by
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
gbif · cc-by
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
gbif · cc-by
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
What to Eat
Edible parts: Tuber, Root
The tubers are cooked and eaten.
Where to Find It
It is a tropical plant. It grows in deciduous forests on limestone. It grows between 100-900 m altitude.
Africa, East Africa, Madagascar*,
Countries: Angola, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Benin, Botswana, Congo (DRC), Central African Republic, Congo (Republic), Cote d'Ivoire, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Djibouti, Algeria, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Gambia, Guinea, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Comoros, Liberia, Lesotho, Libya, Morocco, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sudan, Sierra Leone, Senegal, Somalia, South Sudan, Sao Tome & Principe, Eswatini, Chad, Togo, Tunisia, Tanzania, Uganda, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe
How to Identify
A yam. The vine is 10 m long. The stem twines to the left. It has a fleshy tuber. The tubers are 60 cm long. The leaves are alternate. They can be 9 cm long and 7 cm wide. They are broadly oval.
