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Yellow guinea yam

Dioscorea cayenensis

Also called Yellow Yam, Lagos Yam, Attoto Yam, Twelve Months Yam

Yellow guinea yam
Photo: Tomwsulcer, CC0

Yellow guinea yam is a climbing tropical yam grown for its large, starchy underground tubers, widely cultivated across West Africa. It needs a warm, humid, frost-free climate, a long growing season, and a support to climb on.

Family
Dioscoreaceae (Dioscore family)
Grows as
Climber, Bulb
Light
Full sun, Part shade
Water
Water regularly during the growing season, then reduce water as the vines die back so the tubers can cure.
Soil
Deep, loose, well-drained soil rich in organic matter, such as sandy loam.
Temperature
22–30 °C; protect below 15 °C
How easy
Moderate
Safety
Not known to be toxic
Edible
Yes, some parts
Native range
W. & WC. Trop. Africa
Climate
wet tropical

About

Dioscorea cayenensis is a species of yam in the genus Dioscorea that is a widely consumed West African domesticated crop. Dioscorea rotundata is sometimes treated as a subspecies, and sometimes also as a separate species. Common names include Guinea yam, yellow yam, and yellow Guinea yam.

It may be a triploid hybrid between the cultivated D. rotundata and the wild D. burkilliana.

Other Dioscorea plants

Dioscorea abyssinica · Water yam · Air 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 cayenensis 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.

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