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Dioscorea dumetorum

115400-8Common Name:Bitter yam
Bitter yam is a perennial climbing plant producing spiny stems up to 10 metres long from a shallow-seated, tuberous rootstock. These stems scramble over the ground, or twine into the surrounding vegetation. Sometimes cultivated in tropical areas of Africa for its edible root. It is an easily grown plant and also a heavy cropper. The plant is often purposely grown at spare points on the land as an insurance against famine years and is also encouraged in hedgerows around a farm and especially on the edges of yam fields as a deterrent to human and animal marauders.
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