Dioscorea sagittifolia

Botanical Description

Dioscorea sagittifolia is an unarmed, herbaceous perennial climbing plant with stems growing up to 8 metres tall from a tuberous rootstock. The stems twine right-handed around other plants for support, or scramble over the ground. The deeply-rooted tubers are protected by spiny roots[ 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 tuber is gathered from the wild for local use as a food. The plant is occasionally cultivated for its tuber.