Dioscorea
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Authority
Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro & collaborators. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78: 1-581.
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Family
Dioscoreaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Genus Description - Dioecious, twining, herbaceous to woody vines, with large, single or clustered tubers; stems cylindrical, angled or winged, armed or unarmed. Leaves alternate or opposite, simple or palmately lobed, with arching parallel veins, long-petiolate, usually with aerial bulbils in axils. Flowers unisexual, 3-merous, actinomorphic, in axillary spikes, racemes, or panicles. Perianth minute; staminate flowers with 6 stamens, all fertile or the inner cycle modified into staminodes; pistillate flowers bearing staminodes and an inferior ovary. Fruit a dry, chartaceous to leathery, 3-winged capsule; seeds numerous, flattened, winged.
Distribution and Ecology - A tropical and subtropical genus of about 600 species.