Dioscorea pyrifolia (PROSEA)
Introduction |
Dioscorea pyrifolia Kunth
- Family: Dioscoreaceae
Synonyms
Dioscorea diepenhorstii Miquel, D. oppositifolia L. sensu auct. mult., D. zollingeriana Kunth.
Vernacular names
- Marsh benzoin climber (En)
- Indonesia: huwi upas (Sundanese), ilus (Javanese)
- Malaysia: akar kemenyan paya, ubi babi, badak.
Distribution
Malaysia and Indonesia (Sumatra, West Java, Kalimantan).
Uses
In Peninsular Malaysia the tubers are eaten after baking or 2-3 boilings. Raw tubers are used in Malaysian traditional medicine for poulticing sores, swellings and bites. In Indonesia, stems are used for cordage and wickerwork.
Observations
Perennial, dioecious herb with stem usually abundantly armed at the base, twining to the right, up to 10 m long, glabrescent. Tubers are produced more than one per year from a woody corm, up to 2.5 m deep in the soil, as elongated swollen ends of long stalks, with white flesh. Bulbils absent. Leaves simple, usually opposite, herbaceous; petiole up to 4.5 cm long; blade ovate-elliptical with a cordiform base, up to 11 cm × 8 cm, pubescent, acuminate with large glands on acumen, hastate when young. Male flowering axes 1-4 together on leafless branches, up to 5 cm long, pubescent, bearing about 50 sessile flowers. Female flowering axes usually in pairs, up to 24 cm long, pubescent. Capsule wings 18-20 mm × 22 mm. D. pyrifolia is confined to per-humid climates, favouring wet, sunny locations (roadsides and river banks), up to 700 m altitude or higher. The flowers smell of benzoin. The tubers are considered as an emergency food, as they are difficult to dig up. Five botanical varieties of little practical value have been distinguished on the basis of prickliness of the stems and hairiness of the leaves. D. pyrifolia closely resembles D. nummularia Lamk which is, however, completely glabrous.
Selected sources
13, 22, 32, 94.
Authors
L.E. Groen, J.S. Siemonsma & P.C.M. Jansen