Aloes and Lilies of Ethiopia and Eritrea

314 DIOSCOREACEAE
Habitat and
distribution
Dioscorea
schimperiana
Description
Habitat and
distribution
the apex of inflorescence; perianth white, turning pink or purple
with age; stamens 6, those of the outer whorl longer than the inner
ones. Female inflorescences: 1–6 spikes at a node, up to 25 cm long.
Female flowers: perianth white, turning pink or brown when old.
Capsule oblong ellipsoid, 2–3 × 1.2–1.6 cm, reflexed at maturity.
Seeds winged at the basal end, c. 2 × 0.7 cm. Some edible varieties
have lost their ability to produce flowers.
The species grows on steep slopes in broad­leaved
deciduous woodland, rive rine forest and at edges of
forest, also cultivated in home gardens between 600 and
1500 m in Tigray, Gonder, Gojam, Illubabor, Kefa, Gamo
Gofa, and Sidamo floristic regions in Ethiopia and in
Eritrea. It is also widespread in tropical Africa and Asia,
Pacific Islands, and it has been introduced to tropical
America. The main flowering period in Ethiopia is from
August to November.
6. Dioscorea schimperiana Kunth
The specific epithet ‘schimperiana’ was given in honor
of the German Plant collector, W.G. Schimper, from one
of whose collection the type specimen was designated.
The species was described by Kunth in 1850 from a plant
collected in Dje ladjeranne in Tigray floristic region.
It differs from all the related species with simple
leaves by having pubescent leaves and stems.
Climber, with stems 3–6 m long, covered with stellate or branched
hairs, generally green, sometimes red­violet. Small bulbils borne in
the axils of upper leaves, subglobose, 0.8–4 × 0.6–2.5 cm. Tuber
annual, irregularly cylindrical, descending vertically, 35–50 cm
long, 5 cm thick, ± branched. Leaves usually opposite, occasionally
subopposite or alternate; petiole 4–14 cm long; blade cordate,
suborbicular or ovate, 4.5–22 × 4–17 cm, acuminate at the apex,
cordate at the base with scattered stellate hairs above, denser below;
7–9­nerved, secondary nerves parallel; petiole 5–14 cm long. Male
inflorescences: 2–12 pendulous spikes, 3.5–14 cm long, in the axils
of leaves, covered with stellate hairs. Male flowers: perianth sessile,
2–2.5 mm in diameter, cup­shaped; outer whorl ovate­lanceolate,
obtuse, stellate pubes cent outside; inner whorl glabrous; stamens 6.
Female inflorescences: 1–2 pendulous spikes in the axils of leaves,
8–18(–25) cm long with 10–22 flowers or fruits along the axis,
pubescent to tomentose. Capsule subtriangular to trape zo idal, 1.8–3
× 1–3 cm, reflexed at maturity, pilose when young, glabrescent
when old. Seeds with annular wings, 1.1–2.3 × 1–1.4 cm.
The species grows in gallery forest, at ed ges of forest,
or in Acacia seyal- Entada abyssinica- Stereospermum