白薯莨 bai shu liang

Dioscorea daemona Roxburgh; D. hispida var. daemona (Roxburgh) Prain & Burkill; D. mollissima Blume.

Tubers brown, ovoid or irregularly shaped, variable in size, poisonous; transverse section white. Stem twining to left, to 30 cm, terete, stout, pubescent when young, glabrescent, prickly. Leaves alternate, palmately 3-foliolate; petiole to 30 cm, hairy; middle leaflet ± ovate to elliptic, 6--12(--17.5) × 4--12 cm, adaxially sparsely hispid, glabrescent, abaxially hispid, palmately veined, apex acuminate; lateral leaflets ovate-elliptic or nearly broadly oblong, oblique, smaller than middle leaflet, margin entire. Male spikes in axillary panicles to 50 cm with 2 levels of branching, most parts densely tomentose. Male flowers: in dense clusters; perianth ca. 1 mm, outer lobes smaller and thinner than inner ones; stamens 6. Female spike solitary, to 40 cm. Capsule long ellipsoid, 3.5--7 cm, leathery, densely pubescent; wings 1.2--1.5 cm wide. Seeds inserted near apex of capsule; wing pointing toward capsule base. Fl. Apr--May, fr. Jul--Sep.

Scrub forests, forest margins; near sea level to 1500 m. Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, E Xizang (Bomi Xian, Qamdo Xian), Yunnan [Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Sikkim, Thailand].