The characteristic differences of the plant, recommendations for the care of dioscorea, rules for reproduction, diseases and pests, interesting facts, species. Dioscorea is a plant belonging to the Dioscoreaceae family, which also includes about 600 varieties. For their growth, these representatives of the flora have chosen tropical and subtropical regions of the planet, but several of the varieties can be found in warm regions, where moderate climatic conditions prevail. This specimen of the green world got its name thanks to the name of the Greek military doctor, pharmacologist and naturalist Dioscorides, who lived in the 40s – 90s of our era. He became famous for being revered as one of the founders of sciences such as botany and pharmacognosy. Also under his authorship there is a scientific work, which contains the most significant and complete collection of recipes with a description of drugs, which has come down to our time and bears the name "De Materia Medica".
So, Dioscorea is a perennial with a liana-like herbaceous form of growth. The length of its stems can vary in the range of 2–12 meters. It has large rhizomes and tubers. The shape of the rhizomes is compact, thick, with tuberous thickenings; at the fracture, the inside has a yellow tint.
The leaf plates are solid, at the base they can take heart-shaped outlines, petiolate. Their location depends on the variety of the variety: it can be spiral; next; whorled from the root to the middle of the stem, and then the sequence becomes regular. The size of the leaf reaches 12 cm. Sometimes the plate is divided into lobes, there may be pubescence on the back side. The color is deep green.
The flowering process occurs in the months of May and June. At the same time, few decorative flowers appear. They can be located singly or be collected in inflorescences, since the dioscorea is a dioecious plant, the male buds form spike-shaped inflorescences, and the female buds gather in racemose outlines. The color of the petals of the flower is pale greenish or greenish yellow, there are 6 of them.
After flowering, the fruit begins to ripen in the form of a berry or a three-nested box. The seeds have flaps that allow them to be carried by the wind over considerable distances. It can be either one wing or "wings" from two or more sides.
The tubers of one of the dioscorea species, called yams, are an important agricultural crop in countries where climatic conditions allow this plant to be cultivated. Yam tubers can reach 15 kg. Many of them are poisonous when eaten raw, but when cooked, all the poisonous compounds in them decompose and do not pose any harm to humans. Yams are most revered as a food product in Africa, Asia and the Pacific Islands.
Growing and caring for dioscorea at home
- Lighting. The plant feels great in diffused lighting and therefore a western orientation is suitable for it.
- Content temperature for this vine, in the summertime, it should be maintained in the range of 20-23 degrees, and with the arrival of autumn, it should be reduced to 13. When grown in open ground, you will need to cover with agrofibre for the winter, but before that, mulch the soil with fallen leaves.
- Humidity does not play a big role in the cultivation of this vine.
- Watering. This condition is the most demanding in the care of dioscorea. The soil should always be moist, but it is important to avoid stagnation of moisture in the pot. In summer, the frequency and volume of humidification become higher, especially at higher temperatures.
- Dioscorea fertilizers. It will be necessary to make additional fertilizing only during the period of vegetation activity. Liquid organic preparations are used, with the dosage indicated by the manufacturer. The regularity of fertilization every 14 days.
- Transplantation and choice of substrate. In the spring, when the dioscorea has not yet begun to develop, the pot and the soil in it are changed. The regularity of these transplants is once a year. It was noticed that the vine showed the best growth when the capacity was small for it, and the roots became cramped. Therefore, you can only replace 2-3 cm of soil in a pot. A layer of drainage material is laid on the bottom. The substrate is selected light, loose and nutritious (rich in organic matter). When transplanting vines, heather soil, humus, river sand and crushed pine bark are mixed, parts of all components should be equal.
Dioscorea breeding tips do it yourself
You can get a new plant by dividing the rhizome of the mother vine or by sowing seed.
For seed propagation, a universal soil is poured into the container, mixed in half with perlite. If you want to achieve greater germination, then peat tablets or peat-sandy substrate are used. The seeding depth is 1 cm. The container is covered with a piece of glass or a plastic bag, placed in a warm place with a temperature of 24-25 degrees. Moistening is carried out as the soil dries out. It is important not to forget to ventilate the crops. After 3-4 weeks, the first shoots will appear. But it happens that germination was delayed for a longer period, which sometimes reached 6-9 months - this was due to incorrect conditions during reproduction. It is necessary to supplement the seedlings with fluorescent lamps so that the plants do not stretch too much. When a pair of leaves appears on young dioscoreas, then they are transplanted into permanent pots with a selected substrate.
If a vine is transplanted at home, then the rhizome of the mother plant can be divided. With a sharply sharpened knife, the root system should be cut into smaller pieces and the cuttings should be planted in separate containers with selected soil, the volume of the pots should correspond to the size of the rhizomes with shoots.
Difficulties in the process of growing dioscorea
Dioscorea is very resistant to disease and rarely affected by pests, probably due to the fact that the leaves of the plant contain bitter alkaloids such as diosgenin. But if the conditions of detention are violated (humidity decreases), then a spider mite may be affected. In this case, it will be necessary to carry out treatment with insecticidal preparations.
Interesting facts about Dioscorea
The most effective will be the rhizomes of the vine, which has reached 25 years of age. They are collected in the spring or autumn, before the first frost begins. The shelf life of such raw materials can be up to 3 years. On the basis of Dioscorea, herbalists and homeopaths make decoctions and tinctures that promote immunomodulation, have a sedative, diuretic, and choleretic effect, and help the general strengthening of the body. Hormones such as cortisone and birth control are made from the rhizomes of some species.
Yam is the main food crop for more than half a billion people, which indicates its high importance in the life of mankind. If you take care of the species "Elephant Leg" without violating the conditions, then it can reach the 70-year mark.
Types of dioscorea
The Caucasian Dioscorea (Dioscorea caucasica) is a herbaceous vine that has a long life span and can reach a length of 2-3 m. There is a thick, long branching rhizome located in the horizontal plane. Leaf plates grow up to 6-15 cm in length. The shape of the leaf can be cordate, ovoid-cordate or oval, there is a sharpness to both ends, the lower surface is pubescent. The leaves are attached to the stem with petioles, along the edge there is a slight indentation. Arcuate veins are located along the surface; their number varies from 9 to 13 units. The leaves in the lower part are arranged in whorls, and already to the upper part their arrangement becomes regular. When blooming, small flowers are formed (the maximum diameter is measured 3–4 mm), with petals painted in a green tone, unisexual and dioecious. From them, racemose inflorescences are collected, if the bud is female or spikelet, when it is male. The flowering process occurs in late spring and early summer. In September, the fruits ripen in the form of a triangular capsule, their sizes in diameter vary within 2, 5-3 cm. The seeds have wing-like formations - bats, through which the plant can reproduce. This variety is endemic (no longer found anywhere else except in certain territories) of Abkhazia and the lands of the Adler region of the Krasnodar Territory. Likes to settle in dry oak or oak-hornbeam forests, can be found in shrub thickets and outcrops of rocks. It grows mainly on calcareous soils. Since this representative of the flora is listed in the Red Book, measures have been taken to cultivate it.
Yams (Dioscorea spp.) Denotes the name of several plant species that are summarized in a general group and are representatives of Dioscorea. Its tubers can reach 2.5 m in length, and their weight is measured 70 kg. Suitable for food, due to the high content of starch in its composition. The native area of growth falls on the lands of Africa, Asia, Latin America and the island territories of Oceania, where the tropical and subtropical climate reigns supreme.
The root system of the yam has a fibrous appearance and wide branching. The resulting stem is thin and with a ribbed surface, it can curl or lie down, it reaches 3 meters in length. The leaf plates are simple, petioled to the stem, about 12 cm long and often spiked at the base. At the base of the stem, the leaves are located opposite, and from the middle they grow in the next sequence. The shape of the leaf is rounded, with a pointed tip at the top, and heart-shaped at the base. Its diameter can vary within 5-6 cm.
There are practically no flowers, generative reproduction does not take place.
Stolons, which are called lateral shoots, are often formed either in the zone of the root collar in the yam or in the underground part of the stem. The number of these formations on a plant can vary within 4–20 units, their length is measured from 5 cm to half a meter. It is precisely because of the length that the varietal division of yam takes place, since there are short, medium density, loose bush or spreading species. At the ends of these stolons, a thickening forms, which takes on a tuberous shape - that for which this plant is cultivated. The tubers take the shape of a rounded, elongated-oval, or spindle-shaped. The surface of the tuber is smooth, but sometimes it can be slightly cracked. The color of the thin skin is whitish, pinkish or purple. There is a white or yellowish flesh underneath. If the tubers are small, then the yams are propagated with their help.
This plant is rich in vitamin C, as well as potassium, manganese, fiber with vitamin B6. There are many varieties of this variety.
Cinnamon vine (Dioscorea batatas) gets its name from the fact that the scent of its flowers reminds people of the smell of cinnamon very much, not just its edible rhizome. When growing, this liana-like plant forms an airy bulb that has a pleasant taste with nutty notes. Also, this representative of the Discoreina family is actively used in oriental folk medicine because of its medicinal properties, and the juice can help with snake or scorpion bites.
Elephant leg (Dioscorea elehpantipes). At its lower part of the trunk, this liana-like plant is wide and covered with bark, divided into segments with geometric outlines. When Dioscorea is young, the surface of its trunk resembles a tortoiseshell, and over time its appearance becomes similar to the lower part of the limbs of an elephant. If times of famine come, then local African tribes, namely the Hottentots, eat this variety.
Dioscorea ordinary (Dioscorea communis) has the synonymous name Tamus ordinary, and the people call it: Adam's root, vodogon, lepshura, as well as inaccessibility, fiery root, overlap or greasy root. It is a herbaceous dioecious vine with a long-term cycle. It has a fleshy root with stem contours. The leaf plates are arranged in the next sequence. Their outlines are very similar to the leaves of the Caucasian variety of Dioscorea, but from the lower surface they are devoid of pubescence.
The flowering process occurs at the end of spring and with it flowers appear with yellowish-whitish perianths, heterosexual. From them racemose inflorescences are collected. Ripening fruits are like red berries. The fruiting process takes place from July to mid-autumn.
The plant reveres as its native habitats the territories of Southern and Western Europe, the lands of North Africa, and is also found in the south-west of Asia and in the Russian regions, namely in the Crimea and the Caucasus. Most often it is found in the lower tier of forests located in the mountains. The roots contain saponins and glycosides. Usually, in Caucasian folk medicine, drugs based on this variety are used in the treatment of rheumatism and sciatica. When collecting young roots, they are boiled and eaten, but if the amount of the product is above the norm, it will easily cause vomiting and diarrhea.
Dioscorea nipponica (Dioscorea nipponica), like other varieties, has a liana-like and herbaceous form of growth. It can "live" for many years, while reaching 5 meters in length. Found on the lands of the Far East. The plant is dioecious, with a horizontal rhizome, which can approach a length of 2 meters, while its diameter is 3 cm, the root processes are thin and tough. The stems curl, their surface is bare, herbaceous. The leaves are attached to the stem by means of the petiole in the next sequence. Their outlines are broadly ovate, divided into 3–7 lobes.
When flowering, unisexual buds appear with a pale green color. If the flower is staminate, it develops on a male plant and from such buds racemose inflorescences are collected, originating in the leaf axils. When the flower is pistillate and grows on a female liana, the formed inflorescences take the form of a simple brush. The fruits are represented by a box with three nests.
This plant often chooses areas with deciduous forests for its "place of residence" and can "settle" on the edges of cedar-deciduous forests; in the southern regions of the Khabarovsk Territory and in the southeastern lands of the Amur Region.
The rhizome of this variety is of interest to herbalists and homeopaths and is also an important product for the medicinal industry. Since it contains up to 80% steroidal saponins and derivatives of a substance such as diosgenin (the most important of which is dioscin). It is on the basis of diosgenin that hormones are produced - cortisone and progesterone.
More about growing Dioscorea in this video:
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