Dioscorea elephantipes (L'Hér.) Engl. (1908:367)
Elephant's foot, Elephant's foot yam, Hottentot bread
Taxonomy & Nomenclature
Synonyms: Tamus elephantipes L'Hér. in Sert. Angl.: 29 (1789); Testudinaria elephantipes (L'Hér.) Burch. in Trav. S. Africa 2: 147 (1824); Dioscorea elephantopus Spreng. in Syst. Veg., ed. 16. 4(2): 143 (1827), nom. illeg.; Rhizemys elephantipes (L'Hér.) Raf. in Fl. Tellur. 4: 26 (1838); Dioscorea testudinaria R.Knuth in H.G.A.Engler (ed.), Pflanzenr., IV, 43: 9 (1924), nom. illeg.; Testudinaria montana Burch. in Trav. S. Africa 2: 148 (1824); Dioscorea montana (Burch.) Spreng. in Syst. Veg., ed. 16. 4(2): 143 (1827); Rhizemys montana (Burch.) Raf. in Fl. Tellur. 4: 26 (1838); Testudinaria elephantipes f. montana (Burch.) G.D.Rowley in Natl. Cact. Succ. J. 28: 6 (1973)
Conservation Status
Last record: 1954 (POWO, 2023)
Since rediscovered (POWO, 2023)
Distribution
Northern Cape Province, South Africa
Biology & Ecology
Hypodigm
Media
References
Archibald, E. E. A. (1967). The genus Dioscorea in the Cape Province West of East London. Journal of South African Botany 33: 1–46.
Govaerts, R. (2000). World Checklist of Seed Plants Database in ACCESS D: 1-30141.
Govaerts, R., Wilkin, P. and Saunders, R. M. K. (2007). World Checklist of Dioscoreales. Yams and their allies: 1-65. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
Merckx, Vincent, Schols, Peter, Kamer, Hiltje Maas-van de, Maas, Paul, Huysmans, Suzy and Smets, Erik. (2006). Phylogeny and evolution of Burmanniaceae (Dioscoreales) based on nuclear and mitochondrial data. American Journal of Botany 93(11): 1684-1698. https://doi.org/10.3732/ajb.93.11.1684
POWO. (2023). Dioscorea elephantipes (L'Hér.) Engl. Plants of the World Online (online resource). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, United Kingdom. Available at: https://powo.science.kew.org/ [Accessed 26 December 2023]
Smith, P., Burgoyne, P. and van Wyk, E. (2001). Rare plants rediscovered in the Northern Cape. Samara 1: 1.
Von Teichman und Logischen, I., H. P. Van Der Schijff, H. P. and Robbertse, P. J. (1975). The genus Dioscorea L. in South Africa. Boissiera 24: 215–224.
Williams, V. L., Victor, J. E. and Crouch, N. R. (2013). Red Listed medicinal plants of South Africa: Status, trends, and assessment challenges. South African Journal of Botany 86: 23-35. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sajb.2013.01.006
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dioscorea_elephantipes