Dioscoreaceae
Dioscorea

Dioscorea minutiflora Engl.

First published in Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 7: 332 (1886)
This species is accepted
The native range of this species is W. Tropical Africa to Uganda, Madagascar. It is a climbing tuberous geophyte and grows primarily in the seasonally dry tropical biome.

Descriptions

Dioscoreaceae, E. Milne-Redhead. Flora of Tropical East Africa. 1975

Morphology General Habit
Rootstock perennial, in age consisting of several horizontally radiating woody arms with a shoot at the outside end, eventually dying back towards the centre to form separate plants; each arm protecting several vertical fleshy tubers about 25 cm. long.
Morphology Stem
Twining stems prickly, up to 10 m. high, glabrous.
Morphology Leaves
Leaves opposite or occasionally alternate, glabrous; petiole up to 10 cm. long; blade broadly ovate, orbicular or the uppermost reniform, cordate or rounded at the base, shortly acuminate, the lower up to 12 cm. long and 9 cm. broad, the upper 5 cm. long and 6 cm. broad.
Vegetative Multiplication Tubers
Aerial tubers absent.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences
Inflorescence glabrous.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers
Male as 7, D. lecardii. Female as 6, D. odoratissima.
sex Male
Male as 7, D. lecardii.
sex Female
Female as 6, D. odoratissima.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Capsule and seeds not seen.
Habitat
Rain-forest; 1050–1750 m.
Distribution
Senegal and Guinée east to Zaire and south to Gabon and Angola (Cabinda) U2 U3 U4
[FTEA]

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/120930340/123663806

Conservation
LC - least concern
[IUCN]

Extinction risk predictions for the world's flowering plants to support their conservation (2024). Bachman, S.P., Brown, M.J.M., Leão, T.C.C., Lughadha, E.N., Walker, B.E. https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nph.19592

Conservation
Predicted extinction risk: not threatened. Confidence: confident
[AERP]

Dioscoreaceae, J. Miège. Flora of West Tropical Africa 3:1. 1968

Morphology General Habit
Perennial climber with spiny stems 12-30 ft high
Morphology Leaves
Rounded several-nerved leaves
Ecology
Abundant principally on the forest edges.
[FWTA]

Sources

  • Angiosperm Extinction Risk Predictions v1

    • Angiosperm Threat Predictions
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

  • Flora of Tropical East Africa

    • Flora of Tropical East Africa
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Flora of West Tropical Africa

    • Flora of West Tropical Africa
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Herbarium Catalogue Specimens

    • Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

  • IUCN Categories

    • IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Kew Backbone Distributions

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2024. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2024. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0