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Dioscorea alata
Also called Winged Yam, Greater Yams, Guyana Arrowroot, Yams, Greater Yam, Ten Months Yam, White Yam
Water yam (Dioscorea alata) is a climbing tropical vine grown for its large, starchy underground tubers, one of the most important staple yams in Pacific and Southeast Asian cultures. It needs warm, humid, frost-free conditions, a long growing season, and well-drained but moist, fertile soil.
Dioscorea alata – also called ube, ubi, uwhi, purple yam, winged yam, or greater yam, among many other names – is a species of yam (a tuber). The tubers are usually a vivid violet-purple to bright lavender (hence the common name), but some range from creamy-white to plain white. Although it is sometimes confused with taro and the Okinawa sweet potato beniimo (紅芋) (Ipomoea batatas 'Ayamurasaki'), D. alata is also grown in Okinawa. Its origins are in the Asian and Oceanian tropics. Some varieties attain great size. A mambatap greater yam grown in Maprik, East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea, around 1939 was 3.5 m (11 ft) in length.
Dioscorea alata is one of the most important staple crops in Austronesian cultures. It is one of various species of yams that were domesticated and cultivated independently within Island Southeast Asia and New Guinea for their starchy tubers, including the round yam (Dioscorea bulbifera), ubi gadung (Dioscorea hispida), lesser yam (Dioscorea esculenta), Pacific yam (Dioscorea nummularia), fiveleaf yam (Dioscorea pentaphylla), and pencil yam (Dioscorea transversa). Among these, D. alata and D. esculenta were the only ones regularly cultivated and eaten, while the rest were usually considered as famine food due to their higher levels of the toxin dioscorine, which requires that they be prepared correctly before consumption. D. alata is also cultivated more than D. esculenta, largely because of its much larger tubers.
D. alata and D. esculenta were the most suitable for long transport in Austronesian ships, so were carried through all or most of the range of the Austronesian expansion. D. alata in particular was introduced into the Pacific Islands and New Zealand.
Dioscorea abyssinica · Air yam · Yellow guinea yam · Black Bryony · Yam · Elephant's Foot · Wild Yam · Elephant's Foot Yam · Lesser yam · Yam · Dioscorea fordii · Intoxicating yam
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Dioscorea alata by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
