African Plant Database


Dioscorea smilacifolia De Wild.
Family : DIOSCOREACEAE
Protologue : Ann. Mus. Congo Belge. Bot., Ser. 2 1(1): 58 (1899)
Information on the genus : Dioscorea
 
 
Status
Status for TA : accepted (present)
 
Synonym(s) Heterotypic
=Dioscorea demeusei De Wild. & T. Durand (1901)
=*Dioscorea demeusei auct. non De Wild. p.p.
=Dioscorea echinulata De Wild. (1911)
=Dioscorea flamignii De Wild. (1912)
=Dioscorea minutiflora var. zenkeri Uline ex Harms in Mildbr.
=Dioscorea orbicularis A. Chev. ex De Wild. (1914) non Hook.f.
=Dioscorea smilacifolia var. alternifolia De Wild.
 
Ecology and distribution
Trop. Afr.
Biology : Climber; stems right-twining, with scattered prickles below, 6-20 m long, 0,4-0,6 cm Ø at base, resembling D. minutiflora but not rooting at nodes; tuber probably annual, digitate, roots unarmed; leaves opposite, sometimes alternate, simple; petiole 2,5-9 cm long; blade ovate, elliptic, rarely suborbicular, 4,5-13,5x2,5-11 cm, 3-5-nerved, veins displaced towards margin, apex apiculate-glandular; base rounded, often with 2 tiny lobes (1 mm long) at base of midrib; inflorescences: male in 5-6 spikes or in panicles of racemes 15-50 cm long; female in panicles of racemes to 45 cm long in fruit; capsule 2,5-3x2,8-4,5 cm; seeds winged all round.
Ecology : Rain-forest; edges of fields; savanna with Loudetia, Annona, Hymenocardia; forest edges; swampy forests; forest gallery; forest gaps and regrowths; with Musanga cecropioides, Zingiberaceae spp.; secondary forests; sandy-clayey soils; 5-1400 m alt.
  This species and D. minutiflora may intergrade (fide Figueiredo & Smith, l.c.).
  Sometimes grown on a small scale (fide Burkill, l.c.).

Bibliography for Tropical Africa :
  • Cat. Pl. Vasc. Burkina Faso:61 (2012)
 
More info on :
see under Jstor_African Plant Initiative
see under Fgui
see under The International Plant Name Index
 
Map
More information >> ( work in progress )
 
Record n°11274 modified 2007-04-02
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