Dioscoreaceae FAMILY

Dioscorea polygonoides

Edibility

2/5

Medicinal

0/5

Safety & Hazards

None known

Botanical Description

Bitter Jessie is a perennial climbing plant producing slender, twining stems from a large tuberous rootstock[ 315 Title Flora of Barro Colorado Island Publication Author Croat. Thomas B. Website http://biogeodb.stri.si.edu/bioinformatics/croat/home Publisher Stanford University Press Year 1978 ISBN 0-8047-0950-5 Description A very good flora of an area in Panama. Written some years ago, so some of the names have been changed. The book is out of print, but the whole flora is now available on the web. ]. These stems scramble over the ground, or twine into the surrounding vegetation[ 418 Title Ecocrop Publication Author Website http://ecocrop.fao.org/ecocrop/srv/en/home Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description Basic information on a wide range of useful plants, plus details of environmental needs where available. ]. A vigorous plant, often climbing to the tops of trees[ 426 Title Flowering Plants of Jamaica Publication Author Adams. C.D. Publisher University of the West Indies; Jamaica. Year 1972 ISBN Description A terse treatment of the flowering plants of Jamaica, with a botanical description of each plant, notes on habitat etc. ]. The plant is sometimes gathered from the wild for its edible root, which is consumed locally and made into a coffee.

Habitat & Origin

Origintropical

Native RangeS. America - Argentina and Brazil, north to the Caribbean and through Central America to Mexico.

HabitatRain forests and at the margins of clearings[ 315 Title Flora of Barro Colorado Island Publication Author Croat. Thomas B. Website http://biogeodb.stri.si.edu/bioinformatics/croat/home Publisher Stanford University Press Year 1978 ISBN 0-8047-0950-5 Description A very good flora of an area in Panama. Written some years ago, so some of the names have been changed. The book is out of print, but the whole flora is now available on the web. ]. Woodland margins, damp open thickets and shaded gullies on limestone soils at elevations of 150 - 900 metres in Jamaica[ 426 Title Flowering Plants of Jamaica Publication Author Adams. C.D. Publisher University of the West Indies; Jamaica. Year 1972 ISBN Description A terse treatment of the flowering plants of Jamaica, with a botanical description of each plant, notes on habitat etc. ].