Dioscorea semperflorens — Edible Plant Database

What to Eat

Edible parts: Tubers, Root, Bulbils, Leaves

The tubers, roots, bulbils, and leaves are all edible portions of the plant.

Where to Find It

A tropical plant. It grows in secondary clearings in rainforest in Congo. It suits humid locations.

Africa, Cameroon, Central Africa, Central African Republic, CAR, Congo DR, Congo R,

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 tropical yam vine cultivated in humid rainforest clearings of Congo, producing long, thin tubers that develop annually along with edible bulbils on the vines. It is a popular yam species in the Congo region.

Production

Tubers are hard to harvest.

Other Information

It is a popular yam in Congo. It is a cultivated plant.

Notes

There are about 650 species of Dioscorea.

Names & Synonyms

Essouma, Esuma, Mfouessela, Mpeso

Dioscorea hypotricha UlineDioscorea schlechteri Harms [Invalid]

References (10)

Billong Fils, P. E., et al, 2020, Ethnobotanical survey of wild edible plants used by Baka people in southeastern Cameroon. Journal or Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine. 16:64 p 7
http://aflora.africa.kyoto-u.ac.jp
Jardin, C., 1970, List of Foods Used In Africa, FAO Nutrition Information Document Series No 2.p 15
Mansfeld's Encyclopedia of Agrocultural and Horticultural Crops. Hanelt, P. (ed) p 2160
Moutsambote, J., 1996, Vegetation forestiere et plantes alimentaires de la region de la Sangha. Chp. 11 of Bien Manger et Bien Vivre. ORSTOM p 119
Nkeoua, G. & Boundzanga, G. C., 1999, Donnees sur les produits forestieres non ligneux en Republique du Congo. FAO. p 25
Sato, H., 2001, The potential of edible wild yams and yam-like plants as a staple food resource in the African Tropical Rain Forest. African Study Monographs Suppl. 26:123-134
Yasuoka, H., 2006, Long-Term Foraging Expeditions (Molongo) among the Baka Hunter-Gatherers in the Northwestern Congo Basin, with Special Reference to the "Wild Yam Question". Human Ecology, Vol. 34, No. 2, April 2006, pp 275 ff
Yasuoka, H., 2009, Concentrated Distribution of Wild Yam Patches: Historical Ecology and the Subsistence of African Rainforest Hunter-Gatherers. Human Ecology 37:577-587
Zeven, A. C. & de West, J. M. J., 1982, Dictionary of cultivated plants and their regions of diversity. Wageningen. p 126