Dioscoreaceae FAMILY

Dioscorea schimperiana

Edibility

2/5

Medicinal

0/5

Safety & Hazards

None known

Botanical Description

Dioscorea schimperana is a herbaceous perennial climbing plant producing stems up to 6 metres long from a tuberous rootstock. The stems twine right-handed into other plants for support, or scramble over the ground. The stems bear bulbils in the leaf axils[ 332 Title The Useful Plants of West Tropical Africa. Publication Author Burkil. H. M. Publisher Royal Botanic Gardens; Kew. Year 1985 - 2004 ISBN Description 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/ ]. The edible bulbils are abundant and are harvested from the wild in times of scarcity. The edible roots are also harvested for local use, though returns are small for the amount of effort required to obtain them[ 332 Title The Useful Plants of West Tropical Africa. Publication Author Burkil. H. M. Publisher Royal Botanic Gardens; Kew. Year 1985 - 2004 ISBN Description 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/ ].

Habitat & Origin

Origintropical

Native RangeTropical Africa - Nigeria to Sudan and Ethiopia, south to Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe and Mozambique.

HabitatOpen upland savannah country[ 332 Title The Useful Plants of West Tropical Africa. Publication Author Burkil. H. M. Publisher Royal Botanic Gardens; Kew. Year 1985 - 2004 ISBN Description 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/ ]. In Malawi the plant favours termite mounds and sprawls over rocks on river-margins[ 332 Title The Useful Plants of West Tropical Africa. Publication Author Burkil. H. M. Publisher Royal Botanic Gardens; Kew. Year 1985 - 2004 ISBN Description 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/ ].