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Aloes and Lilies of Ethiopia and Eritrea

Aloes and Lilies of Ethiopia and Eritrea

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310 DIOSCOREACEAE<br />

Fig. 133.<br />

Dioscorea<br />

cochleariapiculata,<br />

from Adi Arkay,<br />

Gonder floristic<br />

region.<br />

Description<br />

described by De Wild in 1914 from a plant collected from<br />

Katanga in Congo.<br />

It differs from the related species D. dumetorum by<br />

having 3–5 nerved leaflets <strong>and</strong> pubescent perianth <strong>and</strong><br />

capsules. In contrast, D. dumetorum has 3-nerved leaflets<br />

<strong>and</strong> glabrous perianth <strong>and</strong> capsules.<br />

Climber, closely allied to D. dumetorum, but more vigorous <strong>and</strong><br />

with larger leaves <strong>and</strong> flowers. Stems prickly, growing 12–15 m<br />

long, densely pubescent when young, later becoming glabrescent.<br />

Bulbils <strong>of</strong>ten present in the axils <strong>of</strong> the leaves. Tubers 4–6, globose,<br />

renewed annually. Leaves alternate, 3­foliolate; petiole up to 28 cm<br />

long, prickly; leaflets with petiolule 0.6–0.7 cm long; lateral leaflets<br />

asymmetrical, median leaflet obovoid to broadly obovoid, 13–20<br />

× 12–13 cm, acutely acuminate at the apex, cuneate to rounded at<br />

the base, conspicuously 3–5nerved from just above the base. Male<br />

inflorescences: branched panicles <strong>of</strong> dense, cylindrical <strong>and</strong> divergent<br />

spikelets, 2–2.5 cm long; peduncle up to 1.5 cm long. Male flowers:

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