丽叶薯蓣 li ye shu yu

Dioscorea pulverea Prain & Burkill.

Tubers cylindric; transverse section white. Stem twining to right, glabrous. Leaves opposite basally on stem, alternate distally on stem, simple; petiole 3.5--18 cm; leaf blade drying dark brown, suborbicular, 6--16 × 5--16 cm, papery, glabrous, basal veins 7 or 9, base cordate to deeply so, margin entire, apex acute to caudate. Male spikes solitary or 2 or 3 together, 5--14 cm; rachis straight. Male flowers: perianth white, greenish white, or yellow, 2--3 mm, outer lobes broadly ovate, fleshy, inner ones smaller than outer; stamens 6, anthers nearly as long as filaments. Female spike solitary. Female flowers: perianth lobes ovate. Capsule not reflexed, obovoid or long obovoid, 2.5--3.5 cm, pruinose, base usually oblique, apex emarginate; wings 1--1.5 cm wide. Seeds inserted near middle of capsule, winged all round. Fl. Jun--Jul, fr. Jul--Nov.

* Forests, mountain slopes; 1600--2100 m. W Guizhou, E Yunnan.