The following Taper on the Chinese Yam , and its culti- 
vation, was read by Sir Samuel Wilson , before the Council 
of the Zoological and Acclimatisation Society , at its Fort- 
nightly Meeting of the 3rd June , 1878. A unanimous vote 
of thanks was accorded to the writer. 
THE CHINESE YAM. 
-5- 
Although the Chinese yam has "been introduced into 
this colony for a considerable time, it has not been appre- 
ciated as its merits deserve. It has been hitherto culti- 
vated more as a curiosity, than as a valuable esculent, and 
it is my belief that, if properly known, it would come into 
general use, as an important addition to the list of vege- 
tables in daily use at our tables. It is a most excellent 
tuber, somewhat similar to the common potato, but of a 
snowy whiteness, and of a delicious flaky consistency, far 
surpassing the potato in flavour. 
It is known scientifically as the Dioscorea Japonica of 
Thunberg, or the Dioscorea batatas of Decaisne, having 
been named after Dioscorides, a . G-reek physician, and is 
extensively cultivated in China and through a great part 
of the East, as well as in Eiji and the South Sea Islands, 
where it, or a nearly allied species, forms a large part of 
the food of the natives at certain seasons of the year. 
Thunberg, a celebrated botanist, and a disciple of Linnaeus, 
discovered the Dioscorea Japonica towards the end of the 
last century, and it was introduced into Yictoria by Baron 
von Mueller in 1858. 
IE 
