Plant Name Dioscorea wallichii Hook.f
Common name:
English: Kruo, Kadat
Marathi: Dehagadi, Konchi
Hindi : Jugur kanda
Known in Jawhar Taluka: Konchi
Interesting facts and history
A yam from Southeast Asia, India and China, Dioscorea wallichii has edible tubers that can grow to over one metre long.
Dioscorea wallichii was named by Joseph D. Hooker (1817-1911) in honour of Nathaniel Wallich (1786-1854), a surgeon and botanist who was involved in the development of the Botanic Garden, Calcutta.
It is larval host plant of the following butterflies: Spindasis vulcanus, Tagiades gana, Tagiades litigiosa.
Identification guide
Stem
twining to the right, smooth or scarcely prickly towards the base
Leaves
to 12 x 12 cm, orbicular, bluntly acuminate, widely cordate at base; nerves 12 pairs from the base, glabrous, intercostae parallel; petiole to 14 cm long. Spikes 7-10 cm long, 3-6 together at nodes on 30-40 cm long peduncle; bracts and bracteoles ovate, acuminate. Male tepals 1 x 1 mm, ovate, acute; stamens 6
Tubers
palmately branched, cylindric. Round capsules contain flat, brown seeds, each with a thin, marginal wing.
Flowers
It has separate male and female plants. The female inflorescences (flowering structures) hang down from the vine, each one containing up to 20 flowers. Female flowers: perianth lobes fleshy, outer ones ovate, inner ones broadly ovate. Capsule (immature) not reflexed, drying blackish, oblate, 2-2.7 cm, glabrous, base truncate, apex emarginate to truncate; wings 1.7-2 cm wide.
Seeds
inserted near middle of capsule in the flower, winged all round
Habit / Habitat
It is a climber and grows on various large shrubs or trees in mixed deciduous and evergreen forests, on mountain slopes, also occurs in disturbed areas along roadsides and margins of cultivated areas
Occurrence
1) Availability of the plant species in India
1) Global distribution: India and Peninsula Malaysia (China, Assam, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand)
- In India: Kerala, Maharashtra, Orissa.
Edible parts
Worldwide Tubers
Jawhar tribal area Tender leaves and shoots
Method of consumption
Tribal recipe
Tender leaves and shoots are boiled and cooked with local masalas.
Other world wise recipes
Tubers are edible when boiled after peeling.
In India, juice extracted from the tubers is drunk to treat jaundice
Nutritional and medicinal information
Proximate Analysis of tubers of D. wallichii is as follows (gm/100gm):
Moisture= 76.36±0.27
Crude Protein= 10.76±0.18
Crude Lipid= 3.34±0.04
Crude Fibre= 7.48±0.13
Calorific value= 1509.01 KJ100/gm DM
Mineral Analysis of tubers of D. wallichii is as follows Mineral Value (mg/100gm):
Sodium = 63.01±0.27
Potassium= 1361±1.01
Calcium= 748.31±0.32
Magnesium=578.06±0.19
Phosphorous= 106.40±0.11
Zinc= 6.66±0.01
Manganese= 3.31±0.05
Iron= 20.14±0.04
Copper= 2.46±0.08
Pharmaceutical significance
- The leaf extract of D. wallichii exhibited anti-bacterial properties when synthesized with silver nanoparticles. The zone of inhibition was observed against Bacillus subtilis, Streptococcus faecalis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Silver nano-particles are the metal choice as they are hold and kill microbe’s effectively . "
Harvesting and preserving
They are being uprooted from the fields.
Tubers can be stored for 4-5 months.
Propagation and Storage
Season of collection
Flowering and fruiting: October-November
How to grow it?
By sowing tubers.
Method of storage
Propagules: Tubers
Other uses
It has been described more as a famine food used in times of food shortage because the tubers are hard to extract and less desirable than those of other Dioscorea species.
Classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Spermatophyta
Sub-division: Angiospermae
Class: Monocotyledonae
Series: Epigynae
Family: Dioscoreaceae
Genus : Dioscorea
Species : wallichii
References
1 http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/165731/0
2 http://e-monocot.org/taxon/urn:kew.org:wcs:taxon:241143
3 http://www.kew.org/science-conservation/plants-fungi/dioscorea-wallichii-kruo
4 http://botatropasia.sciencesconf.org/76565/document
5 http://www.ifoundbutterflies.org/larval-host-plants/153/Dioscorea-wallichii