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Dioscorea esculenta
Also called Asiatic Yam, Chinese Yam
Lesser yam is a climbing tuberous vine grown for its small, usually spiny tubers, widely cultivated across Island Southeast Asia and Oceania. Its key to success is a warm, seasonally dry tropical climate with a long frost-free growing season, and planting tuber pieces in loose, well-drained soil.
Dioscorea esculenta is a species of flowering plant in the family Dioscoreaceae. It is sometimes referred to by the common name lesser yam, and is native to Island Southeast Asia and introduced to Near Oceania and East Africa by early Austronesian voyagers. This yam is grown for its edible tubers, though it has smaller tubers than the more widely-cultivated Dioscorea alata and is usually spiny.
The lesser yam is the second most important yam crop among Austronesians. Like D. alata, it requires minimal processing, unlike the other more bitter yam species. However, it has smaller tubers than D. alata and is usually spiny. Like D. alata it was introduced to Madagascar and the Comoros by Austronesians, where it spread to the East African coast. They are also a dominant crop in Near Oceania, However, it did not reach to the furthest islands in Polynesia, being absent in Hawaii and New Zealand.
Starch grains identified to be from the lesser yam have been recovered from archaeological sites of the Lapita culture in Viti Levu, Fiji, dated to around 3,050 to 2,500 cal BP. D. esculenta is believed to have been introduced by the Lapita culture into New Guinea, along with agricultural innovations like wet cultivation. Traces of D. esculenta (along with D. alata, D. bulbifera, D. nummularia and D. pentaphylla) yams have also been identified from the Mé Auré Cave site in Moindou, New Caledonia, dated to around 2,700 to 1,800 BP. Remains of D.
Dioscorea abyssinica · Water yam · Air yam · Yellow guinea yam · Black Bryony · Yam · Elephant's Foot · Wild Yam · Elephant's Foot Yam · Yam · Dioscorea fordii · Intoxicating yam
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Dioscorea esculenta 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.
