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Dioscorea discolor

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Photo of a caudex by
Emiliano Villanueva López.


Photo by Emiliano Villanueva López.


Photo by Emiliano Villanueva López.


Bulbs of Dioscorea discolor var. picta by W. M.  Szymanski.

Author: Reinhard Gustav Paul Knuth, 1850
Family:  DIOSCOREACEAE
Origin:  Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Venezuela (Mexico?)
Soil:  Rich Drained
Water:  Medium - Maximum
Sun:  Medium - Maximum
Thickness:  5 Centimetres
Height:  4 Metres
Flower:  White
Propagate:  Seeds
Names:  Ornamental Yam, Variegated Ornamental Yam
Synonyms:  Dioscorea dodecaneura, José Mariano da Conceição Vellozo, 2004 =
Dioscorea dodecandra, Steud.
Dioscorea dodecaneura
var. maronensis, Uline ex R.Knuth
Dioscorea dodecaneura
var. villosa, R.Knuth.
Dioscorea hebantha,
Mart. ex Griseb.
Dioscorea huallagensis,
R.Knuth.
Dioscorea illustrata,
W.Bull
Dioscorea kita,
Queva.
Dioscorea racemosa,
Rusby.
 

This member of the Dioscoreaceae family was given this name by Reinhard Gustav Paul Knuth in 1850. It is found in Bolivia, Ecuador, Mexico and Venezuela, growing in a well drained but rich soil with quite some water and lots of sun. The caudex can grow to five centimetres in diameter, the entire plant to four metres in height. The flowers are white.

Dioscorea is named after Pedianos Dioscorides, a Greek physician if the 1st century A.D. The species name means 'of two different (and, usually, distinct) colours', and the leaves can be that.


Photo of a old leaf by Emiliano Villanueva López.