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Article: Dioscorea
- Article from:
- Plant Sciences
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CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Dioscorea
Second only to potatoes in terms of world tuber production, true yams (genus
Dioscorea
) are more closely related to tulips (both are monocots) than to the sweet potato (
Ipomoea batatas
), which is also often called a yam. The genus
Dioscorea
includes around eight hundred tuberous, annual species of
twining
or
rambling habit
, mostly found in tropical regions.
Cultivated for their starch-rich tubers, true yams were originally
domesticated
in three independent regions: Africa, Asia, and the New World. Today, yams, especially
D. rotundata
, are grown extensively throughout the tropics.
A number of
Dioscorea
species naturally produce saponins (a type of steroid). The most ...