Dioscorea pentaphylla L.

 
  • Family : DIOSCOREACEAE
    (Yam Family)
  • Family (Hindi name) : BANA ALU FAMILY (बन आलु)
  • Family (as per The APG System III) : Dioscoreaceae
  • Synonym(s) : Dioscorea pentaphylla var. communis Prain & Burkill; Dioscorea pentaphylla var. rheedei Prain & Burkill; Dioscorea pentaphylla var. linnaei Prain & Burkill
  • Species Name (as per The IPNI) : Dioscorea pentaphylla L.
  • Common name : Fiji yam, Kawan yam
  • Vernacular name :
    • Vallaikodi, Chedukannthi (Tamil)
    • Pittalo kanda, Karwa, Karba, Koraba alu, Mundi kando (Oria)
    • Kanta alu (Hindi)
    • Duka-pendalam, Moyakku pendalam, Pendi-mukatiga, Adavi ginusu-tiga (Telugu)
    • Chaval, Henthikkorana, Kattunurunnakizhangu, Kattukizhangu, Kornapidan, Nurunnakizhangu, Noorakizhangu, Nooran, Nuranchaavl, Marakkizhangu, Mulluvalykizhangu, Vellachikizhangu (Malayalam)
  • Habit : Climber
  • Habitat : Degraded deciduous forests and waste places, also in sacred groves
  • Comments / notes : Often on foothills to 1300m, on thickets, less in plains and in scrub jungles. Tubers are edible
  • Flower, Fruit : August-December
  • Collector(s) Name : Raja K. Swamy, Arun Singh; Arun Singh, Raja K. Swamy, Sankara Rao
  • Collection Date : 13-09-2014, 25-10-2014
  • Collection Nos : HJCB-E-196; HJCB-E-0228
  • Collection Locality : Javadu Hills, Tiruvannamalai district (TN); Way to Bakarapete, Chittoor district (AP)
  • Distribution :
    • Andhra Pradesh : Kurnool district, West Godavari district, Srikakulam district
    • Karnataka : All districts of Karnataka
    • Kerala : All districts of Kerala
    • Maharashtra : Ahmednagar district, Amravati district, Aurangabad district, Bhandara district, Mumbai-City district, Mumbai Suburban district, Buldhana district, Chandrapur district, Dhule district, Kolhapur district, Nagpur district, Nashik district, Pune district, Raigad district, Ratnagiri district, Satara district, Sindhudurg district, Thane district
    • Odisha : Bargarh district, Bolangir district
    • Tamil Nadu : Tamil Nadu
    • Madhya Pradesh : Hoshangabad district
    • Uttarakhand : Uttarakhand
    • Sikkim : Sikkim
    • Himachal Pradesh : Himachal Pradesh
    • Arunachal Pradesh : Lohit, Siang, Subansiri, Tirap
    • Meghalaya : Meghalaya
    • Assam : Assam
    • Nagaland : Nagaland
    • Jammu and Kashmir : Jammu and Kashmir
    • Mizoram : Mizoram
    • Manipur : Manipur
    • Tripura : Tripura
  • Native : Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Borneo, Cambodia, Caroline Islands, China, Hainan, India, Jawa, Laos, Lesser Sunda Islands, Malaya, Maldives, Maluku, Myanmar, Nansei-shoto, Nepal, New Guinea, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Taiwan, Thailand, Ti
  • Exotic/Native : Native
  • World Distribution : Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Borneo, Cambodia, Caroline Islands, China, Hainan, India, Jawa, Laos, Lesser Sunda Islands, Malaya, Maldives, Maluku, Myanmar, Nansei-shoto, Nepal, New Guinea, Philippines, Sri Lanka, 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
    • N.P.Singh, 1988. Flora of Eastern Karnataka
    • B. D. Sharma, S. Karthikeyan & N. P. Singh 1996 - Flora of Maharashtra state - Monocotyledons
    • Matthew, K.M., The Flora of Tamil Nadu Carnatic, Vol.3 (2). Diocesan Press, Madras. 1983
    • Sasidharan, N. 2011. Flowering plants of Kerala. DVD, V 2, KFRI
    • Saldanha & Nicolson, 1976 – Flora of Hassan district
    • Ramaswamy & Razi, 1973 – Flora of Bangalore district
    • Seetharam et al., 2000 – Flora of Gulbarga district
    • Rao & Razi, 1981 – A Synoptic Flora of Mysore District
    • Keshava Murthy & Yoganarasimhan, 1990 – Flora of Coorg district
    • Gopalakrishna Bhat, 2003 – Flora of Udupi district
    • Manjunath et al., 2003 – Flora of Davanagere district
    • Gopalakrishna Bhat, 2014 - Flora of South Kanara
    • Sharma B.D, 1984 - Flora of Karnataka Analysis
    • Nayar, T. S., et al, 2006. Flowering plants of Kerala, A hand book
    • H J, Chowdhery, et al. Materials for Flora of Arunachal Pradesh. Volume 3, Botanical Survey of India, 2009. Pg.: 191
  • Read more :
  • Citation : Sankara Rao, K., Deepak Kumar (2024). India Flora Online. http://indiafloraonline-ces.iisc.ac.in/plants.php?name=Dioscorea pentaphylla. Downloaded on 6 December 2024.

Botanical Description

Herbarium Specimen(s)

Line Drawings

Field Image(s)

India Distribution

World Distribution

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