yam

yam, any of several plant species of the genus Dioscorea (family Dioscoreaceae) grown for their edible tubers. Yams are native to warmer regions of both hemispheres, and several species are cultivated as staple food crops in the tropics. In certain tropical cultures, notably in West Africa and New Guinea, the yam is the primary agricultural commodity and the focal point of elaborate rituals. Yams are consumed as cooked starchy vegetables. They are often boiled and then mashed into a sticky paste or dough, but they may also be fried, roasted, or baked in the manner of potatoes or sweet potatoes, which are unrelated.

Physical description

Yam plants have thick tubers (generally a development of the base of the stem) which often have thick, almost barklike skin. The long, slender, annual, climbing stems bear lobed or entire leaves that are either alternate or opposite. The unisexual flowers are borne in long clusters. The flowers are generally small and individually inconspicuous though collectively showy. Each consists of a greenish bell-shaped or flat perianth of six pieces, enclosing six or fewer stamens in the male flowers and surmounting a three-celled three-winged ovary in the female flowers. The ovary ripens into a membranous capsule, bursting by three valves to liberate numerous flattish or globose seeds.

Major species

Yam flesh ranges in colour from white to yellow, pink, or purple and varies in taste from sweet to bitter to tasteless. Most yams contain an acrid principle that is dissipated in cooking. Indian yam (D. trifida) and winged, or water, yam (D. alata) are the edible species most widely diffused in tropical and subtropical countries. The tubers of D. alata sometimes weigh 45 kg (100 pounds). Guinea yam (D. rotundata) and yellow Guinea yam (D. cayenensis) are the main yam species grown in West Africa. Lesser yam (D. esculenta), grown on the subcontinent of India, in southern Vietnam, and on South Pacific islands, is one of the tastiest yams. Chinese yam (D. polystachya), also known as cinnamon vine, is widely cultivated in East Asia.

Britannica Quiz

Fruit or Vegetable? A Quiz

True yams are botanically distinct from the sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas), but moist-fleshed varieties of sweet potato are often called yams in the United States. The air-potato yam (D. bulbifera) is one of the few true yams cultivated for food in the United States.