Dioscorea.] CXXXIII. DIOSCORIDE^. 1615 



1. Urn sp. ? Stems slender, more or less clothed with short brownish hairs. 

 Leaves 3 to 5-foliate, leaflets often hairy like the stems, ovate-lanceolate, 

 »piculate, mostly 2 to Sin. long ; petioles long as the leaflets, with pisiform 

 bulbils in the axils. As I stated in Vol, vii. p. 443, Rep. Aust. Ass. Ad. Sc, this 

 iplant is nearly allied to D. Kumaonemis, Kunth, Hook. Fl. Brit. Ind. vi. 290. 



Hab.: Thursday Island. 



2. D. transversa (transverse), R. Br. Prod. 295 ; Bentk. Fl. Austr, vi. 460. 

 ^' Am-pu," Red Island, Roik ; " Kowar," Rockhampton, Tlwzet; "Guiaba"or 

 ■" Gyabi," Barron River, E. Cowley. A slender glabrous twiner with a tuberous 

 rhizome. Leaves opposite or alternate, triangular-hastate or ovate-cordate, the 

 fcasal lobes always very spreading with a broad obtuse sinus, more or less 

 acuminate, 5 or 7-nerved, usually 3 to 4in. long and scarcely half as broad, but 

 •on barren shoots sometimes broader than long. Male flowers sessile and distant 

 along the rhachis of interrupted slender spikes of 1\ to 2in., the spikes clustered 

 along the branches of axillary panicles. Perianth-seo;ments orbicular, above 1 

 line diameter in some specimens, not half so large in others, but perhaps not fully 

 ■developed, all much imbricate, the 3 inner ones rather smaller. Anthers on short 

 filaments inserted on a disk, with a small rudiment of an ovary in the centre. 

 Female racemes simple, 2 to 4in. long, the flowers distant. Ovary oblong- 

 linear. Perianth of the males but smaller. Styles short, distinct, the stigmas 

 shortly 2-cleft. Capsule shortly stipitate, the axils about fin. long, the protruding 

 angles or lobes about |in. long. 



Hab.: Very common in southern more rare in northern localities. 

 The fragrance of the minute flowers at times very powerful. 

 Roots, after being roasted, eaten, Uotli. 



3. B. sativa (cultivated), Linn. Spec. PI. 1463, Hart. CM. t. 28, but not of 

 Kunth, Enum. ; Benth. Fl. Austr. vi. 461. Yam. " Kun-janga," Butcher's 

 Hill; " Wi-ka," Morehead River ; " Un-woo," Red Island; " Dai-peri,'' Batavia 

 River, Roth ; " Karro," Mitchell River, Palmer. Stems from a tuberous rhizome 

 ■elongated and twining,' of ten bearing green globular bulbs in the axils of the 

 leaves. Leaves alternate, broadly ovate, deeply cordate, usually 9-nerved, or 

 when 7-nerved the extreme lateral nerves forked, very variable in size, in the 

 Australian specimens usually 3 to 6in. long and nearly as broad. Male spikes 

 slender, 1 to 2in. long when fully out, usually numerous, clustered along the 

 branches of long narrow axillary panicles. Flowers very small, the perianth- 

 segments very narrow, those of each series almost valvate in the bud, the inner 

 ■ones linear. Stamens 6, the anthers almost sessile in the centre of the flower 

 round a rudimentary pistil.- Female flower in longer slender single spikes. 

 ■Capsule oblong, the axis about fin. long. Seeds flattened, winged at the lower end 

 ■only, assuming quite the form of a samara, the wing at least twice as long as the 

 nucleus. — D. bulbifera, R. Br. Prod. 294 ; Wight, Ic. t. 878 and of most modern 

 authors but not of Linn. — Helmia bulbifera, Kunth, Enum. v. 435. 



Hab.: Islands of the Gulf of Carpentaria, B. Brown; abundant in most of the tropical scrubs. 



Roots eaten after being soaked and roasted. — Roth and Palmer. 



yax.elongata. "Kalkur," Cooktown, iJoift. " Anyorbil," Palmer Eiver, iJot/j. The yams long, 



Var. rotunda. " Wokai," Cooktown, Both. The yams round. * 



The above description is far from satisfactory but my material does not allow me to furnish 

 •good descriptions of the three or more species or varieties that are generally quoted here under 

 the name of D. sativa, Linn. Wight. Ic. 878, D. bulbifera, Linn., represents one grown in 

 'Queensland gardens from which it has strayed in a few instances but is not indigenous ; the 

 indigenous ones never have such large leaves nor such large axillary tubers, this species was 

 £rst introduced by Capt. L. Hope. 



