Dioscoreaceae FAMILY
Dioscorea praehensilis
Dioscorea praehensilis
Edibility
2/5
Medicinal
2/5
Safety & Hazards
The tubers contain toxic substances and have a very bitter flavour[1].
Cultivation Details
HabitPerennial Climber
Growth—
A plant of moderate elevations in the tropics. It grows in Tanzania in areas where the mean annual rainfall is in the range 1,400 - 2,400mm[2]. Thrives in humus-rich soils[2]. This species could be one of the parents of Dioscorea cayenensis, a species that is widely cultivated in Africa for its edible root[1].
Propagation
Seed - Cite as: Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2026-02-20. <tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Dioscorea+praehensilis>
Pollinators
Data unavailable
References
- [1]Protabase - Plant Resources of Tropical Africa. — http://www.prota.org ↩︎An excellent on-line database with detailed information on over 3,200 species of useful plants of Africa.
- [2]Edible Wild Plants of Tanzania — Ruffo, C.K.: Birnie, A. & Tengnas, B. · Regional Land Management Unit; Nairobi. · 2002 · ISBN 9966-896-60-0 ↩︎A very well presented, simple guide to growing and utilizing wild food plants in Tanzania, with line drawings of each plant, a description, habitat and range, non-food as well as food uses, plus basic information on growing the plants.
- [3]The Useful Plants of West Tropical Africa. — Burkil. H. M. · Royal Botanic Gardens; Kew. · 1985 - 2004 ↩︎Brief descriptions and details of the uses of over 4,000 plants. A superb, if terse, resource, it is also available electronically on the Web - see http://www.aluka.org/