Taxon:
Dioscorea alata L.
Summary
Place of publication:
Sp. pl. 2:1033. 1753
Verified:
05/12/1995
ARS Systematic Botanists.
Autonyms (not in current use), synonyms and invalid designations
Reference(s)
- Acevedo-Rodríguez, P. et al. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78:1-581.
- Aldén, B., S. Ryman, & M. Hjertson. 2012. Svensk Kulturväxtdatabas, SKUD (Swedish Cultivated and Utility Plants Database; online resource) www.skud.info
- Arnau, G. et al. 2009. Revision of ploidy status of Dioscorea alata L. (Dioscoreaceae) by cytogenetic and microsatellite segregation analysis. Theor. Appl. Genet. 118:1239-1249. URL: http://link.springer.com/journal/volumesAndIssues/122 Note: it found evidence for diploid (2n=40), and polyploid Dioscorea alata; this study questioned the allotetraploid origin of D. alata
- Bhattacharjee, R. et al. 2011. Chapter 4. Dioscorea. Wild crop relatives: genomic and breeding resources, industrial crops 71-96.
- Burkill, H. M. 1985. The useful plants of west tropical Africa. 1:655-657.
- Chinese Academy of Sciences. 1959-. Flora reipublicae popularis sinicae.
- Dassanayake, M. D. & F. R. Fosberg, eds. 1980-. A revised handbook to the flora of Ceylon.
- Egesi, C. N. et al. 2002. Ploidy analysis in water yam, Dioscorea alata L. germplasm. Euphytica 128:225-230. Note: Netherlands journal of plant breeding
- Erhardt, W. et al. 2002. Zander: Handwörterbuch der Pflanzennamen, 17. Auflage
- Flach, M. & F. Rumawas, eds. 1996. Plants yielding non-seed carbohydrates. Plant Resources of South-East Asia (PROSEA) 9:90. URL: http://proseanet.org
- FNA Editorial Committee. 1993-. Flora of North America. URL: http://floranorthamerica.org/
- Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). 2010. Ecocrop (on-line resource). URL: http://ecocrop.fao.org/ecocrop/srv/en/cropListDetails?code=&relation=beginsWith&name=Dioscorea+alata&quantity=1
- George, A. S., ed. 1980-. Flora of Australia.
- Govaerts, R. et al. 2007. World checklist of Dioscoreales: yams and their allies
- Grierson, A. J. C. & D. J. Long. 1984-. Flora of Bhutan including a record of plants from Sikkim.
- Groth, D. 2005. pers. comm. Note: re. Brazilian common names
- Hara, H. et al. 1978-1982. An enumeration of the flowering plants of Nepal.
- Howard, R. 1979. Flora of the lesser Antilles. 3:506.
- Hsu, K.-M. et al. 2013. Molecular phylogeny of Dioscorea (Dioscoreaceae) in East and Southeast Asia. Blumea 58:21-27. URL: http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/nhn/blumea
- Liberty Hyde Bailey Hortorium. 1976. Hortus third.
- Mabberley, D. J. 1997. The plant-book: a portable dictionary of the vascular plants, ed. 2
- Malapa, R. et al. 2005. Genetic diversity of the greater yam (Dioscorea alata L.) and relatedness to D. nummularia Lam. and D. transversa Br. as revealed with AFLP markers. Genet. Resources Crop Evol. 52:919-929. URL: http://link.springer.com/journal/volumesAndIssues/10722
- Markle, G. M. et al., eds. 1998. Food and feed crops of the United States, ed. 2
- McGuffin, M., J. T. Kartesz, A. Y. Leung, & A. O. Tucker. 2000. Herbs of commerce, ed. 2 American Herbal Products Association, Silver Spring, Maryland.
- Nemorin, A. et al. 2012. Inheritance pattern of tetraploid Dioscorea alata and evidence of double reduction using microsatellite marker segregation analysis. Molec. Breed. 30:1657-1667. Note: it finds evidence for autoplyploidization in the origin of polyploid, cultivated Dioscorea alata
- Nemorin, A. et al. 2013. Microsatellite and flow cytometry analysis to help understand the origin of Dioscorea alata polyploids. Ann. Bot. (Oxford) 112:811-819. URL: http://aob.oxfordjournals.org/content/by/year Note: this study found an inheritance pattern that supports autotetraploidy; it also proposed that the origin of Dioscorea alata autotetraploids could occur through unreduced gametes resulting in intermediate triploids
- Nkounkou, J. S. 1993. La section Enantiophyllum Uline du genre Dioscorea L. en Afrique Centrale. Belgian J. Bot. 126:45-70.
- Porcher, M. H. et al. Searchable World Wide Web Multilingual Multiscript Plant Name Database (MMPND) (on-line resource). URL: http://www.plantnames.unimelb.edu.au/Sorting/Frontpage.html
- Rehm, S. 1994. Multilingual dictionary of agronomic plants
- Steenis, C. G. G. J. van, ed. 1951. Flora malesiana. ser. 1, 4:330-331.
- Steyermark, J. A. et al., eds. 1995-. Flora of the Venezuelan Guayana. Note: Missouri Botanical Garden & Timber Press
- Uphof, J. C. T. 1968. Dictionary of economic plants, ed. 2.
- Weber, E. 2003. Invasive plant species of the world: a reference guide to environmental weeds
- Wilkin, P. 2001. Dioscoreaceae of south-central Africa. Kew Bull. 56:374.
- 1961. Webster's third new international dictionary.
Common names
English
greater yam – Guyana arrowroot – ten-months yam – water yam – white yam – winged yam – yam – French
grande igname – igname ailée – igname de Chine – German
geflügelter Yam – wasser Yamswurzel – Portuguese (Brazil)
inhame – Spanish
ñame blanco – ñame de agua – tabena – Swedish
storjams –
Distribution
order_code | Status | Continent | Subcontinent | Country | State | Note |
1 | Native | Asia-Temperate | Eastern Asia | Taiwan | | |
1 | Native | Asia-Tropical | Indian Subcontinent | India | | |
1 | Native | Asia-Tropical | Indian Subcontinent | Nepal | | |
1 | Native | Asia-Tropical | Indo-China | Myanmar | | |
1 | Native | Asia-Tropical | Indo-China | Thailand | | |
1 | Native | Asia-Tropical | Indo-China | Vietnam | | |
1 | Native | Asia-Tropical | Malesia | Borneo | | |
1 | Native | Asia-Tropical | Malesia | Indonesia | Jawa | |
1 | Native | Asia-Tropical | Malesia | Indonesia | Lesser Sunda Islands | |
1 | Native | Asia-Tropical | Malesia | Indonesia | Sulawesi | |
1 | Native | Asia-Tropical | Malesia | Indonesia | Sumatera | |
1 | Native | Asia-Tropical | Malesia | Malaysia | | |
1 | Native | Asia-Tropical | Malesia | Philippines | | |
1 | Native | Asia-Tropical | Papuasia | New Guinea | | |
2 | Cultivated | | | | | widely cult. in paleotropics |
4 | Naturalized | Africa | East Tropical Africa | Tanzania | | |
4 | Naturalized | Africa | Northeast Tropical Africa | Ethiopia | | |
4 | Naturalized | Africa | South Tropical Africa | Angola | | |
4 | Naturalized | Africa | South Tropical Africa | Malawi | | |
4 | Naturalized | Africa | South Tropical Africa | Mozambique | | |
4 | Naturalized | Africa | South Tropical Africa | Zambia | | |
4 | Naturalized | Africa | West Tropical Africa | Benin | | |
4 | Naturalized | Africa | West Tropical Africa | Mali | | |
4 | Naturalized | Africa | West Tropical Africa | Togo | | |
4 | Naturalized | Africa | West-Central Tropical Africa | Cameroon | | |
4 | Naturalized | Africa | West-Central Tropical Africa | Central African Republic | | |
4 | Naturalized | Africa | West-Central Tropical Africa | Democratic Republic of the Congo | | |
4 | Naturalized | Africa | West-Central Tropical Africa | Gabon | | |
4 | Naturalized | Africa | West-Central Tropical Africa | Rwanda | | |
4 | Naturalized | Africa | Western Indian Ocean | Comoros | | |
4 | Naturalized | Africa | Western Indian Ocean | Madagascar | | |
4 | Naturalized | Africa | Western Indian Ocean | Seychelles | | |
4 | Naturalized | Asia-Temperate | China | China | | |
4 | Naturalized | Australasia | Australia | Australia | | |
4 | Naturalized | Northern America | | Mexico | | |
4 | Naturalized | Northern America | Southeastern U.S.A. | United States | Florida | |
4 | Naturalized | Northern America | Southeastern U.S.A. | United States | Georgia | |
4 | Naturalized | Pacific | Northwestern Pacific | Micronesia | | |
4 | Naturalized | Pacific | South-Central Pacific | French Polynesia | Society Islands | |
4 | Naturalized | Pacific | South-Central Pacific | Pitcairn | | |
4 | Naturalized | Pacific | Southwestern Pacific | Fiji | | |
4 | Naturalized | Pacific | Southwestern Pacific | Niue | | |
4 | Naturalized | Pacific | Southwestern Pacific | Samoa | | |
4 | Naturalized | Pacific | Southwestern Pacific | Tonga | | |
4 | Naturalized | Southern America | Brazil | Brazil | | |
4 | Naturalized | Southern America | Caribbean | Dominican Republic | | |
4 | Naturalized | Southern America | Caribbean | Jamaica | | |
4 | Naturalized | Southern America | Caribbean | Trinidad and Tobago | | |
4 | Naturalized | Southern America | Caribbean | United States | Puerto Rico | |
4 | Naturalized | Southern America | Central America | Belize | | |
4 | Naturalized | Southern America | Central America | Costa Rica | | |
4 | Naturalized | Southern America | Central America | El Salvador | | |
4 | Naturalized | Southern America | Central America | Guatemala | | |
4 | Naturalized | Southern America | Central America | Honduras | | |
4 | Naturalized | Southern America | Central America | Nicaragua | | |
4 | Naturalized | Southern America | Central America | Panama | | |
4 | Naturalized | Southern America | Northern South America | French Guiana | | |
4 | Naturalized | Southern America | Northern South America | Guyana | | |
4 | Naturalized | Southern America | Northern South America | Suriname | | |
4 | Naturalized | Southern America | Northern South America | Venezuela | | |
4 | Naturalized | Southern America | Western South America | Colombia | | |
4 | Naturalized | Southern America | Western South America | Peru | | |
Native
Asia-Temperate
Asia-Tropical
-
INDIAN SUBCONTINENT:
India, Nepal
-
PAPUASIA:
New Guinea
-
INDO-CHINA:
Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam
-
MALESIA:
Borneo, Indonesia [Sulawesi, Jawa, Lesser Sunda Islands, Sumatera], Malaysia, Philippines
Cultivated
(widely cult. in paleotropics)
Naturalized
Africa
-
NORTHEAST TROPICAL AFRICA:
Ethiopia
-
EAST TROPICAL AFRICA:
Tanzania
-
WEST-CENTRAL TROPICAL AFRICA:
Central African Republic, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Rwanda
-
WEST TROPICAL AFRICA:
Benin, Mali, Togo
-
SOUTH TROPICAL AFRICA:
Angola, Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia
-
WESTERN INDIAN OCEAN:
Comoros, Madagascar, Seychelles
Asia-Temperate
Australasia
Northern America
-
SOUTHEASTERN U.S.A.:
United States [Florida, Georgia]
-
REGION:
Mexico
Pacific
-
NORTHWESTERN PACIFIC:
Micronesia
-
SOUTH-CENTRAL PACIFIC:
Pitcairn, French Polynesia [Society Islands]
-
SOUTHWESTERN PACIFIC:
Fiji, Niue, Tonga, Samoa
Southern America
-
CARIBBEAN:
Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, United States [Puerto Rico]
-
CENTRAL AMERICA:
Belize, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, El Salvador
-
NORTHERN SOUTH AMERICA:
French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, Venezuela
-
BRAZIL:
Brazil
-
WESTERN SOUTH AMERICA:
Colombia, Peru
Economic Uses
Usage | Type | Note | Reference |
Environmental | ornamental | | Weber, E. 2003. Invasive plant species of the world: a reference guide to environmental weeds |
Human food | starch | | Uphof, J. C. T. 1968. Dictionary of economic plants, ed. 2. |
Human food | starch | | Weber, E. 2003. Invasive plant species of the world: a reference guide to environmental weeds |
Human food | vegetable | tubers are consumed cooked | Burkill, H. M. 1985. The useful plants of west tropical Africa. 1:655-657. |
Medicines | folklore | | McGuffin, M., J. T. Kartesz, A. Y. Leung, & A. O. Tucker. 2000. Herbs of commerce, ed. 2 American Herbal Products Association, Silver Spring, Maryland. |
Weed | | | Weber, E. 2003. Invasive plant species of the world: a reference guide to environmental weeds |