Overview
Distribution
Localities documented in Tropicos sources
South Africa (Africa & Madagascar)
Note: This information is based on publications available through Tropicos and may not represent the entire distribution. Tropicos does not categorize distributions as native or non-native.
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Gibbs Russell, G. E., W. G. Welman, E. Reitief, K. L. Immelman, G. Germishuizen, B. J. Pienaar, M. v. Wyk & A. Nicholas. 1987. List of species of southern African plants. Mem. Bot. Surv. S. Africa 2(1–2): 1–152(pt. 1), 1–270(pt. 2).
http://www.tropicos.org/Reference/1371
© Missouri Botanical Garden, 4344 Shaw Boulevard, St. Louis, MO 63110 USA
Source:
Missouri Botanical Garden
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Evolution and Systematics
Functional Adaptations
Functional adaptation
The desert Hottentot bread plant stores vast amounts of water in a large, underground corky tuber.
"Swollen roots are used by a great number of plants as storage tanks. Beneath the sand, they are out of sight and not easily found by thirsty animals living on the surface. Hottentot bread is the name given to a yam that develops an immense underground tuber that may weigh as much as seven hundred pounds and fully justifies its specific name of elephantipes -- elephant foot. Every desert -- in Australia and South America, in the Sahara, the Gobi and Madagascar -- has such plants. And in every one, an ability to recognise the leaf of a tiny sprig standing unobtrusively in the sand as an indication of a buried water store was once the traditional life-saving knowledge of nomadic people." (Attenborough 1995:269)
Learn more about this functional adaptation.
- Attenborough, D. 1995. The Private Life of Plants: A Natural History of Plant Behavior. London: BBC Books. 320 p.
© The Biomimicry Institute
Source:
AskNature
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Molecular Biology and Genetics
Molecular Biology
Barcode data: Dioscorea elephantipes
No available public DNA sequences.
Download FASTA File
© Barcode of Life Data Systems
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Statistics of barcoding coverage: Dioscorea elephantipes
Public Records: 1
Specimens with Barcodes: 1
Species With Barcodes: 1
© Barcode of Life Data Systems
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Wikipedia
Dioscorea elephantipes
Dioscorea elephantipes (elephant's foot or Hottentot bread; syn. Testudinaria elephantipes), is a species of flowering plant in the genus Dioscorea of the family Diascoreaceae, native to south west South Africa. It is a deciduous climber. It takes the name "elephant's foot" from the appearance of its large, partially buried, tuberous stem, which grows very slowly but often reaches a considerable size, often more than 3 m (10 ft) in circumference with a height of nearly 1 m (3 ft 3 in) above ground. It is rich in starch, whence the name Hottentot bread, and is covered on the outside with thick, hard, corky plates. It develops slender, leafy, climbing shoots wuth dark-spotted, greenish-yellow flowers in summer.[1]
In cultivation in temperate areas, D. elephantipes requires the protection of a heated greenhouse. It has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.[2]
- ^ RHS A-Z encyclopedia of garden plants. United Kingdom: Dorling Kindersley. 2008. pp. 1136. ISBN 1405332964.
- ^ http://apps.rhs.org.uk/plantselector/plant?plantid=2835
Gallery
The large tuberous stem of Dioscorea elephantipes at the botanical garden of Villa Durazzo-Pallavicini, Genova Pegli.
Leaves
Flowers
References
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
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Wikipedia
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