Dioscorea

Twining climber with annual, right-twining, unarmed stems, growing from a perennial fleshy tuber. Leaves usually opposite, 10-20 cm long, heart-shaped, covered in stellate hairs, more densely so below. Flowers in pendent, axillary spikes, unisexual. Bulbils often present, particularly at flowering time, axillary, c. 1 cm in diameter, globose to ovoid, tuberculate, dark brown. Fruit 4-winged capsule, up to 2.4 × 3.9 cm, papery when dry.

Twining dioecious herbs, sometimes bearing aerial tubers. Leaves alternate or opposite, simple or compound (3-7-digitate). Male inflorescences of axillary spikes or racemes, sometimes a terminal panicle. Female inflorescences of axillary spikes. Ovary 3-locular. Fruit a 3-lobed capsule. Seeds sometimes winged.

Common

Widespread in tropical Africa