Chinese yam
Chinese Yam
Chinese yam is a herbaceous,twining, perennial vine that often is found climbing. It invades open to shady areas in the eastern United States. Chinese yam can form dense masses of vines that cover and kill native vegetation including trees within a variety of moist, disturbed habitates. It was introduced from Asia for ornamental, food, and medicinal purposes and escaped cultivation in the mid 1900s.
Common Name: Chinese Yam,shan yao,Cinnamon vine, Air potato
Scientific Name: Dioscorea oppositifolia L.
Chinese yam is a deciduous perennial vine native to China. It is a member of the Dioscoreaceae or Yam family. The genus Dioscorea has economic value as a food plant and is used as a traditional Chinese medicine.
Height: Chinese yam is a creeping and climbing vine that may reach up to 5 meters in height given support from trees and shrubs. The vines twine from left to right.
Leaves: The leaves are acute to acuminate with a cordate (heart-shaped) base. The leaves can be alternate or opposite in arrangement on the stem. Typically, leaves are 4 to 8 cm long and up to 4 cm wide with 7 to 9 veins. The margins, petioles and stems are purplish to red in color.
Flowers: The small yellowish-white flowers arise from the axils of the leaves. The perianth is bell-shaped and the staminate (male) flowers are in bundles, spikes or panicles at the end of the branches. Flowers may have a spicy fragrance similar to cinnamon. Arrangement may be paniculate or spicate.
Bulbils: Bulbils or small aerial tubers (0.7 to 3 cm long) are produced in the axils of the leaves.
Seeds: The seeds are borne in a three-angle membranous capsule.
Life History
Chinese yam is a deciduous perennial vine that reproduces primarily vegetatively through aerial tubers or bulbils. Although the production of seeds has been seen, sexual reproduction has not been verified in the United States. The bulbils form on the axils of the leaves in late summer and fall. The mature bulbils fall from the plant and are spread primarily by gravity. Animals may also play a role in dispersal. Since the bulbils float and Chinese yam is commonly found in alluvial soils, water may play a role longer-range dispersal. The aerial tubers are covered with adventitious buds and damaged or partially eaten tubers can produce new plants. The large tuberous root of Chinese yam is capable of resprouting if it is fractured or damaged.
Origin and Distribution
Chinese yam is native to China. It was introduced to the United States as an ornamental or edible food crop in the 1800’s. Since that time, it has been identified in most of the Eastern United States from Texas to Florida and Vermont to Kansas.
Chinese yam is found in rich alluvial soils along streams, seasonal creeks and rivers. It can tolerate semi-xeric sites with rocky soils. It grows in full sun and can tolerate all but the deepest shade. D. oppositifolia can be found along roadways, waste places, old home sites, and disturbed areas.
Similar Species
The native wild yam (Dioscorea villosa) may resemble Chinese yam. Main distinguishing characteristics of wild yam include vines that twine right to left, pubescence present on the upper leaf surfaces, and the absence of aerial tubers. Greenbrier (Smilax sp.) has a similar leaf shape to Chinese yam but lacks the bulbils, has thorns (on some but not all species), and has blue to purple berries. Morning glory (Ipomoea sp.) and bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis) have a cordate leaf shape but lack the aerial tubers.
Chinese yam and loss weight
Now Chinese yam is widely used in weight loss pills and other weight loss industry.
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