Dioscorea alataL.

water yam

WFO wfo-0000388864 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Dioscorea alata, photographed by Maria Janeiro
fig. a Maria Janeiro, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-05-12 / obs. 197080974
Dioscorea alata, photographed by Takaaki Hattori
fig. b Takaaki Hattori, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 132285152
Dioscorea alata, photographed by geosesarma
fig. c geosesarma, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 108643391
Dioscorea alata, photographed by 葉子
fig. d 葉子, CC0 1.0 / obs. 105025403
Dioscorea alata, photographed by Alexis López Hernández
fig. e Alexis López Hernández, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 66828969
Dioscorea alata, photographed by 葉子
fig. f 葉子, CC0 1.0 / obs. 39696888
Dioscorea alata, photographed by Dinesh Valke
fig. g Dinesh Valke, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 133745604
Dioscorea alata, photographed by Sarka Masova
fig. h Sarka Masova, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 204785695

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 19 botanical countries

Regions where Dioscorea alata is native: Assam, Bangladesh, Bismarck Archipelago, Borneo, Cambodia, Christmas I., East Himalaya, India, Jawa, Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, Myanmar, Nepal, New Guinea, Philippines, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Thailand, Vietnam AssamBangladeshBismarck ArchipelagoBorneoCambodiaEast HimalayaIndiaJawaLesser Sunda Is.MalayaMyanmarNepalNew GuineaPhilippinesSulawesiSumateraThailandVietnam Christmas I.
Native distribution of Dioscorea alata, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Assam ASS ASIA-TROPICAL
Bangladesh BAN
Bismarck Archipelago BIS
Borneo BOR
Cambodia CBD
Christmas I. XMS
East Himalaya EHM
India IND
Jawa JAW
Lesser Sunda Is. LSI
Malaya MLY
Myanmar MYA
Nepal NEP
New Guinea NWG
Philippines PHI
Sulawesi SUL
Sumatera SUM
Thailand THA
Vietnam VIE

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Also published as 17 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Dioscorea alata var. globosa (Roxb.) Prain
  • Dioscorea alata var. purpurea (Roxb.) A.Pouchet
  • Dioscorea alata var. tarri Prain & Burkill
  • Dioscorea alata var. vera Prain & Burkill
  • Dioscorea atropurpurea Roxb.
  • Dioscorea colocasiifolia Pax
  • Dioscorea eburina Lour.
  • Dioscorea eburnea Lour.
  • Dioscorea globosa Roxb.
  • Dioscorea javanica Queva
  • Dioscorea purpurea Roxb.
  • Dioscorea rubella Roxb.
  • Dioscorea sapinii De Wild.
  • Dioscorea sapinii De Wildemann
  • Dioscorea vulgaris Miq.
  • Elephantodon eburneus (Lour.) Salisb.
  • Polynome alata (L.) Salisb.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.