Dioscorea wallichii Hook. fil.

Tubers palmately branched, cylindric. Stem twining to right, stout, glabrous. Leaves opposite or alternate, simple; petiole 4--12 cm; leaf blade orbicular or ovate, 6--18 × 6--22 cm, glabrous, basal veins 7--11, base cordate to deeply so with narrow sinus and basal lobes rounded, margin entire, apex acute or shortly acuminate. Male spike 2--5 cm, in delicate, axillary panicles 4--10 cm; rachis straight. Male flowers: bracts triangular-ovate; perianth purplish red dotted, outer lobes elliptic-ovate, inner ones broadly obovate; stamens 6; staminodes large, subglobose. Female spikes simple or branched. Female flowers: perianth lobes fleshy, outer ones ovate, inner ones broadly ovate. Capsule (immature) not reflexed, drying blackish, oblate, 2--2.7 cm, glabrous, base truncate, apex emarginate to truncate; wings 1.7--2 cm wide. Seeds inserted near middle of capsule, winged all round. Fl. Dec.

W Yunnan (Yingjiang Xian) [Bangladesh, India, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand].

Forests, mountain slopes; 900--1300 m.

Dioscorea wallichii is a type of climbing tuberous geophyte of the family Dioscoreaceae. It is native to Bangladesh, China, India, Malaysia, Myanmar, and Thailand. It has one edible cylindrical tuber that is about 1 meter long and 3-6 centimeters wide. The tuber is white when young, becoming yellow and stringy once aged.