Dioscorea elephantipes

Dioscorea elephantipes
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Monocots
Order:	Dioscoreales
Family:	Dioscoreaceae
Genus:	Dioscorea
Species:	D. elephantipes
Binomial name
Dioscorea elephantipes (L'Hér.) Engl.

Dioscorea elephantipes (elephant's foot or Hottentot bread; syn. Testudinaria elephantipes), is a species of flowering plant in the genus Dioscorea of the family Dioscoreaceae, native to south west South Africa, but also rediscovered in Northern Cape Province by an expedition collecting seeds for the Millennium Seed Bank Project.

Description

It is a deciduous climber. It takes the name "elephant's foot" from the appearance of its large, partially buried, tuberous stem, which grows very slowly but often reaches a considerable size, often more than 3 m (10 ft) in circumference with a height of nearly 1 m (3 ft 3 in) above ground. It is rich in starch, whence the name Hottentot bread, and is covered on the outside with thick, hard, corky plates. It requires significant processing before being eaten to remove toxic compounds.

Primarily a winter grower, it develops slender, leafy, climbing shoots with dark-spotted, greenish-yellow flowers in winter (May or June in habitat) The flowers are dioecious, with male or female flowers occurring on separate plants.

Distribution

Its natural habitat is the arid inland regions of the Cape, stretching from the centre of the Northern Cape (where it occurs around Springbok), south to the Clanwilliam & Cederberg area, and eastwards through the districts of Graaff Reinet, Uniondale and Willowmore, as far as Grahamstown.

In this area, it is most common on rocky east-facing slopes, in quartz or shale based soils.

Cultivation

This species is not difficult to cultivate, however it requires extremely well-drained soil, and sparse watering. Importantly, it is deciduous and loses its leaves in the summer. At this time it goes through a dry dormancy period.

In cultivation in temperate areas, D. elephantipes can tolerate temperatures to -4 °C in habitat. It was granted the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit in 2002.

Gallery

• 
  The large tuberous stem of Dioscorea elephantipes at the botanical garden of Villa Durazzo-Pallavicini, Genova Pegli.
• 
  Leaves
• 
  Flowers

References

• Germplasm Resources Information Network: Dioscorea elephantipes

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)