• Family : DIOSCOREACEAE
  (Yam Family)
• Family (Hindi name) : BANA ALU FAMILY (बन आलु)
• Family (as per The APG System III) : Dioscoreaceae
• Synonym(s) : Dioscorea daemona Roxb.; Dioscorea daemona var. reticulata Hook.f.; Dioscorea hirsuta Blume; Dioscorea hispida var. daemona (Roxb.) Prain & Burkill; Dioscorea hispida var. mollissima (Blume) Prain & Burkill; Dioscorea hispida var. neoscaphoides Prain & Burkill; Dioscorea hispida var. reticulata (Hook.f.) Prain & Burkill; Dioscorea hispida var. scaphoides Prain & Burkill; Dioscorea lunata B.Heyne ex Roth; Dioscorea mollissima Blume; Dioscorea triphylla var. daemona (Roxb.) Prain & Burkill; Dioscorea triphylla var. mollissima (Blume) Prain & Burkill; Dioscorea triphylla var. reticulata (Hook.f.) Prain & Burkill; Dioscorea virosa Wall. ex Klotzsch & Garcke; Helmia daemona (Roxb.) Kunth; Helmia hirsuta (Blume) Kunth
• Species Name (as per The IPNI) : Dioscorea hispida Dennst.
• Common name : Asiatic Bitter Yam, Intoxicating Yam
• Vernacular name :
  • Vaskand (Marathi)
  • Bainya alu (Oria)
  • Tella gini gadda, Puli-dumpa (Telugu)
  • Karu kandu, Baichandi (Hindi)
  • Bolkande, Podava-kixhangu, Podukkilangu, Venni (Malayalam)
• Habit : Climber
• Habitat : Tropical semi-evergreen forests
• Comments / notes : Tubers cause nausea even after boiling
• Flower, Fruit : June-January
• Distribution :
  • Andhra Pradesh : East Godavari district, Krishna district, Kurnool district, West Godavari district, Visakhapatnam district, Srikakulam district
  • Kerala : Kasaragod district, Wayanad district, Malappuram district, Palakkad district, Thrissur district, Idukki district, Pathanamthitta district, Kollam district
  • Maharashtra : Akola district, Amravati district, Aurangabad district, Mumbai Suburban district, Mumbai-City district, Buldhana district, Chandrapur district, Dhule district, Kolhapur district, Nagpur district, Nashik district, Pune district, Raigad district, Ratnagiri district, Sindhudurg district, Thane district, Yavatmal district, Lonavala
  • Odisha : Mayurbhanj district, Angul district, Sambalpur district
  • Chhattisgarh : Raipur district
  • Madhya Pradesh : Hoshangabad district
  • Uttarakhand : Uttarakhand
  • Sikkim : Sikkim
  • Himachal Pradesh : Himachal Pradesh
  • Arunachal Pradesh : Siang
  • Meghalaya : Meghalaya
  • Assam : Assam
  • Nagaland : Nagaland
  • Uttar Pradesh : Uttar Pradesh
  • Jammu and Kashmir : Jammu and Kashmir
  • Mizoram : Mizoram
  • Andaman and Nicobar Islands : Andaman Islands
  • Manipur : Manipur
  • Tripura : Tripura
• Native : Andaman Islands, Australia, Bangladesh, Bismarck Archipelago, Bhutan, Borneo, Cambodia, China, Hainan, India, Jawa, Lesser Sunda Islands, Malaya, Maluku, Myanmar, Nepal, New Guinea, Philippines, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Taiwan, Thailand, Tibet, Vietnam
• Exotic/Native : Native
• World Distribution : Andaman Islands, Australia, Bangladesh, Bismarck Archipelago, Bhutan, Borneo, Cambodia, China, Hainan, India, Jawa, Lesser Sunda Islands, Malaya, Maluku, Myanmar, Nepal, New Guinea, Philippines, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Taiwan, Thailand, Tibet, Vietnam
• Conservation Status : Not Evaluated (NE)
• Literature :
  • J.L.Ellis, 1990- Flora of Nallamalais Vol. 2
  • H.O. Saxena & M. Brahmam, 1995- Flora of Orissa Vol. 3
  • R. S. Rao et al., 1986 - Flora of West Godavari District
  • R. S. Rao and S. H. Sreeramulu, 1986 - Flora of Srikakulam District
  • H. O. Saxena and M. Brahmam, 1989 - The Flora of Similipahar (Similipal), Orissa
  • B. D. Sharma, S. Karthikeyan & N. P. Singh 1996 - Flora of Maharashtra state - Monocotyledons
  • Sasidharan, N. 2011. Flowering plants of Kerala. DVD, V 2, KFRI.
  • Verma, D.M., et al 1985. Flora of Raipur, Durg and Rajnandagaon. Fl. of Ind. Ser. 3.
  • H J, Chowdhery, et al. Materials for Flora of Arunachal Pradesh. Volume 3, Botanical Survey of India, 2009. Pg.: 189
• Read more :
  • Plants of the World Online
  • World Flora Online
  • Global Plants on JSTOR
• Permalink : http://indiaflora-ces.iisc.ac.in/plants.php?name=Dioscorea hispida
• Citation : Sankara Rao, K., Deepak Kumar (2026). India Flora Online. http://indiaflora-ces.iisc.ac.in/plants.php?name=Dioscorea hispida. Downloaded on 22 February 2026.

Botanical Description

Herbarium Specimen(s)

Field Image(s)

Habitat

Distribution District wise

India Distribution

World Distribution