Dioscorea prazeri (PROSEA)
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Introduction |
Dioscorea prazeri Prain & Burkill
- Protologue: Journ. As. Soc. Beng., Suppl. 2: 73 (1904).
Synonyms
- Dioscorea deltoidea Wallich var. sikkimensis Prain (1936).
Vernacular names
- Thailand: man khao, man mia (south-western).
Distribution
From the eastern Himalayas of India, through Nepal, Bhutan, north Bangladesh, Burma (Myanmar), Thailand and further to the northern edge of Peninsular Malaysia; cultivated in India.
Uses
The rhizome of D. prazeri is used for soap in India, in particular for washing the hair to kill lice. The flesh of the rhizome is very poisonous and also used for stupefying fish.
Observations
- A twining vine, up to 4 m long, stem smooth, ridges very indistinct, bulbils rare, rhizome short, stout, branching, grey-brown to nearly black, flesh white.
- Leaves alternate, 12(-20) cm long and broad, base deeply cordate, 7-11-veined, both surfaces shining, petiole half as long as the blade.
- Staminate branches 1-3 together, cymes 1-3 mm apart, bracts broadly ovate and abruptly long-acuminate, narrow wings descending from the bracts, female branches solitary, up to 30 cm long, pendulous, about 20-flowered.
- Capsules 10-15 mm long, satiny chestnut brown, with broadly semi-cordate or sub-rhomboidal wings, uneven.
- Seeds ovate-oblong, reddish at maturity, wing pale.
D. prazeri grows in temperate regions, ascending the mountains of the Himalaya up to 1600 m altitude.
Selected sources
- [168] Chatterjee, S.K. & Chatterjee, S.K., 1979. Effect of fruiting phenomenon on diosgenin content of Dioscorea, in Darjeeling hills. Indian Journal of Experimental Biology 17(12): 1418—1419.
- [311] Flora of Thailand (various editors), 1970—. The Forest Herbarium, Royal Forest Department, Bangkok, Thailand.
- [722] Nandy, R.P. & Chatterjee, S.K., 1992. Improvement of tuberisation in medicinally important Dioscorea and Costus. Acta Horticulturae 306: 346—352.
- [806] Purseglove, J.W., 1968—1972. Tropical crops. Longman, London, United Kingdom. Dicotyledons. 2 volumes (1968), 719 pp. Monocotyledons. 2 volumes (1972), 607 pp.
- [869] Sarma, P., 1984. Changes in diosgenin content in Dioscorea tuber during pathogenesis by Fusarium solani. Transactions of the British Mycological Society 82(3): 563—564.
Main genus page
Authors
- R.C.K . Chung