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Dioscorea pentaphylla

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Photo by Harold St. John; University of Hawaií.


Photo by Wojciech Maksymilian Szymanski.


Photo by Wojciech Maksymilian Szymanski.


Fruits by Himesh Dilruwan Jayasinghe, Powo.science.kew.org.


Male flowers by Himesh Dilruwan Jayasinghe, Powo.science.kew.org.

Author: Carl von Linnaeus, 1753
Family:  DIOSCOREACEAE
Origin:  Assam, Bangladesh, Borneo, Cambodia, Caroline Island, China, East Himalaya, India, Java, Laos, Lesser Sunda Island, Malaya, Maldives, Maluku, Myanmar, Nepal, New Guinea, Philippines, Queensland; Australia, Sri Lanka, Sulawesi + Sumatera; Indonesia, Taiwan, Thailand, Tibet, Vietnam, West Himalaya (Cuba, Hawaii)
Soil:  Rich
Water:  Maximum
Sun:  Minimum - Medium
Thickness:  25 Centimetres
Height:  10 Metres
Flower:  Greenish White
Propagate:  Seeds/Bulbils
Names:  Fiveleaf Yam
Synonyms:  Dioscorea spinosa Burm 1769.
Dioscorea codonopsidifolia
 Kamik, 1935.
Dioscorea changjiangensis
 F.W.Xing & Z.X. Li, 1995.
Dioscorea digitata. Mill.
Dioscorea globifera,
R.Knuth.
Dioscorea jacquemonti,
i Hook.f.
Dioscorea kleiniana,
Kunth.
Dioscorea pentaphylla
var. papuana, Burkill.
Dioscorea sumbawensi
, R.Knuth.
Dioscorea triphylla,
L.
Hamatris triphylla,
Salisb.
Ubium quadrifarium,
J.F.Gmel.
Ubium scandens,
J.St.-Hil.

This member of the Dioscoreaceae family was given this name by Carl von Linnaeus in 1753. It is found in Australia, and a good part of Asia (and brought to Cuba and Hawaii), growing in a rich soil with quite some water and little sun. The caudex can grow to 25 centimetres in diameter, the entire plant to ten metres in height. The flowers are greenish white.

Due to its large range, many subspecies have been described.

Dioscorea is named after Pedianos Dioscorides, a Greek physician if the 1st century A.D. The species name means 'having five leaves'.


Photo by Wojciech Maksymilian Szymanski.


Female flowers by Himesh Dilruwan Jayasinghe, Powo.science.kew.org.