Dioscorea abyssinica

Botanical Description

Dioscorea abyssinica is a non-spiny climbing perennial plant producing stems up to 4 metres long from a tuberous rootstock. The stems twine right-handed around other plants for support, or scramble over the ground[ 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 tuber is harvested from the wild for local use. The plant is sometimes cultivated for its edible tuber in E Africa.