Description
A climbing vine producing edible bulbils (aerial tubers) along its stem instead of, or in addition to, an underground tuber.
Medicinal Uses
Used traditionally for throat and skin conditions and inflammatory swellings; wild forms contain the toxic alkaloid dioscorine and must be thoroughly processed or cooked before eating.
Food Uses
Aerial bulbils from cultivated, low-toxin forms are boiled or roasted and eaten like potatoes.
Cultivation
A climbing vine that produces bulbils in its leaf axils; cultivated forms are far less toxic than wild ones.
