Dioscorea minutiflora
Engl.
(c) Carel Jongkind, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Carel Jongkind
(c) Luc Strydom, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
What to Eat
Edible parts: Tubers, Root, Vegetable
Tuber - cooked. Seen mainly as a food for use in times of shortage, usually only the lower portion is eaten, and then only while still young. Prolonged soaking of the tuber is required before it can be eaten, not so much because of any traces of toxicity as because of the woodiness of the tissue.
Where to Find It
A tropical plant. It grows in secondary clearings in rainforest in Congo. It is in humid areas and well-drained soils. It suits humid locations. In Kenya it grows between 1,500-2,400 m altitude. It is in areas with more than 700 mm rainfall.
Africa, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central Africa, Central African Republic, CAR, Comoros, Congo DR, Congo R, Côte d'Ivoire, East Africa, Gabon, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Nigeria, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, West Africa,
How to Identify
A yam. It is a vine plant. The tubers are below a woody crown. They can be at the end of finger like projections. The stems twine to the right. They are round. The leaves are opposite and entire. They can be papery and prickly. There are no bulbils along the stem. The tubers keep developing from year to year.
Nutrition Score: 36/100
| Part | Moisture | kJ | kcal | Protein | Vit A | Vit C | Iron | Zinc |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tuber | 68.4 | 493 | 118 | 3 | — | — | — | — |
How to Grow
It is grown from the base of the hard branched stem base. The stems need supports to climb over.
Medicinal Uses
The leaves are squeezed in water, which is then added to gin and taken as a treatment for jaundice. The leafy stems are pulped up to make a topical application for skin-affections.
Production
Tubers can be harvested after 2-3 years. Plants can be left to grow for 20 years.
Other Information
It is a cultivated plant.
Notes
There are about 650 species of Dioscorea.
Names & Synonyms
Aha bayere, Bihama, Buki, Ekihama, Endika, Hazara, Ikeke, Kaama, Koukou, Kpeinkoh-leh, Kuku, Lepheyo, Lewa, Magoraza, Opheyipheyi, Oviazo
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