yes it is Dioscorea alata. it is not Dioscorea bulbifera. It is not D. opositifoila. Both the under ground rhizome and tubers in air are edible after boiling or preparing some curries with tamarind. It will give very big tubers weighing more than ten kg. under cultivation. the portion attached to the aerial stem and aerial tubers are used for planting. Plants from aerial tubers starts giving better rhizome production in second year. The aerial tubers are mainly for spreading the species. D.tomentosa and D.pentaphylla also have these types of aerial tubers. they are having digitate leaves. kunhikannan
On Mon, Nov 15, 2010 at 10:45 PM, Gurcharan Singh <[email protected]> wrote: > Forwarding again for Id confirmation or otherwise pl. > > Some earlier relevant feedback: > > “Alok ji, "this" is the bulbil, meant for vegetative propagation, found in > certain species of Dioscorea, Amorphophallus etc. these bulbils germinate > under favorable condition to give rise new plantlets asexually. > > Your plant is Dioscorea alata, i think. > > With regards > > Vijayasankar” > > > > “Membranous appendages may represent wings, plus opposite leaves may suggest > D. alata, which I had upploaded from Delhi sometimes back, though I have > never seen such bulbils. > > -- > Dr. Gurcharan Singh” > > > > “Also called as AIR POTATO!! > Pankaj” > > "... remember to have read that D. alata is the only Dioscorea having > oppositely arranged leaves." from Dinesh ji. > "May be Dioscorea oppositifolia > Twining from left to right > -- > Regards > Dr Balkar Singh" > > -- > Dr. Gurcharan Singh > Retired Associate Professor > SGTB Khalsa College, University of Delhi, Delhi-110007 > Res: 932 Anand Kunj, Vikas Puri, New Delhi-110018. > Phone: 011-25518297 Mob: 9810359089 > http://people.du.ac.in/~singhg45/ > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Alok Goyal <[email protected]> > Date: Thu, Sep 9, 2010 at 9:50 PM > Subject: [efloraofindia:47065] ID this twiner > To: [email protected] > > > Hallo all > "what is this" rounded structure with primordial roots (i suppose) on "which > is this" plant. > The plant is a twiner with heart shaped leaves. plant is covering the fence > of my house at Mohali (punjab). > temperature - 27-28C > Humidity ~ 70% > Altitude - 348m > the twigs and stem of the twiner have some pink or sometimes deep red > coloured membranous appendages along the length of whole branch. and these > are especially prominent around nodes. > Alok > > > > > -- Dr. C.Kunhikannan, Division of Biodiversity, Institute of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding, Forest Campus, R.S.Puram, Coimbatore-641002, Tamilnadu.
