Air Potato
Bitter Yam
Cheeky Yam
Potato Yam
Hawaiian Names:
Hoi
Pi'oi

Classification:

Dioscorea bulbifera L.
Kingdom: Plantae-Plants
Subkingdom: Tracheobionta-Vascular plants
Superdivision: Spermatophyta-Seed plants
Division: Magnoliophyta-Flowering plants
Class: Liliopsida-Monocotyledons
Subclass: Liliidae
Order: Liliales
Family: Dioscoreaceae-Yam family
Genus: Dioscorea L.- Yam
Species: Dioscorea bulbifera L. - Air Yam
(National Plant Database. 2004.)

The vine's stem is herbaceous, not woody and round. The large leaves are up to 8 inches long and are heart-shaped (cordate). The leaf blade's basal lobes are rounded. Leaf veins radiate from a single point. The leaves have long stems (petioles), and are alternate on the stem. Air Potato flowers are small, greenish and fragrant, hanging in relatively long clusters (panicles and spikes) up to 4 inches long. The fruit is a capsule of seeds. Air potato plants produce "aerial tubers" that are attached closely to the stems where leaves attach to the stem (axil). These air potatoes are grayish and somewhat irregular. Tubers also grow underground where they may be larger.
(Stone, B. C. 1970. The flora of Guam).
(Wagner, W.L., D.R. Herbst and S.H. Sohmer. 1999. Manual of the flowering plants of Hawai'i).

(Magness, J.R., G.M. Markle, C.C. Compton. 1971. Food and feed crops of the United States).
In Hawai'i, the air yam is a Polynesian introduction, naturalized primarily in mesic areas, especially shaded mesic valleys and disturbed mesic forest at elevation 5-670 m.
(Wagner, W.L., D.R. Herbst and S.H. Sohmer. 1999. Manual of the flowering plants of Hawai'i).

commodities. The Air Yam may attain several pounds in weight and are palatable and potato-like in flavor.

(USFS Florida National Forests Invasive Plant Species Series).

By the early 1970s it was already recognized as a pest plant throughout the state.
(Florida State Noxious Weed Law).
(USFS Florida National Forests Invasive Plant Species Series).

The plant hormone diosgenin is similar in structure to the adrenal hormone DHEA and the ovarian hormone progesterone. Diosgenin has a balancing effect upon the body's hormones similar to the effects of DHEA and progesterone. Wild Yam can help to overcome the negative effects of declining levels of DHEA and progesterone that occur with aging. Natural plant hormones such as diosgenin are safer to take long term than are synthetic or animal forms of hormones. Wild Yam can help those with fatigue, depression and loss of sex drive. Diosgenin can be converted into progesterone that very closely matches the molecular structure of the progesterone produced by our own bodies.
(Magic and Medicine of Plants. 1993.)
(China GreatVista Chemicals Website.)

(Information for this species compiled and recorded by Camelia Cirnaru, NTBG Consultant.)