FOOD RESOURCE COLLEGE OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SCIENCES, OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
DIOSCOREA SATIVA, YAM
Hedrick, U.P. editor. 1919. Sturtevant's Notes on Edible Plants. Report of the New York Agricultural Experiment Station for the Year 1919 II. Albany, J.B Lyon Company, State Printers. [References Available]
is a plant of the tropics. Pickering states that this species is found in tropical America and is cultivated by the Waraus of the delta of the Orinoco. The word igname was heard by Vespucius on the coast of Para and was found by Cabral, in 1500, applied in Brazil to a root from which bread was made. This yam was carried by European colonists to the Malayan Archipelago. Its roots, says Seemann, are acrid and require to be soaked before boiling. Browne says it is cultivated int he southern United States for its large, flattened and sometimes palmated roots, which are boiled, roasted and eaten like the potato.
