Dioscorea mexicanaScheidw.

yam

WFO wfo-0000392433 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 4 observations

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 4 times, so some figures below are different views of the same plant, taken on the same day, rather than different individuals. They are usually different parts of it: the leaf, the flower, the bark.

Dioscorea mexicana, photographed by keesgroenendijk
fig. a keesgroenendijk, CC BY 4.0 / 2021-08-28 / obs. 153728572
Dioscorea mexicana, photographed by Matteo Cassella
fig. b Matteo Cassella, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 122747736
Dioscorea mexicana, photographed by Alexis López Hernández
fig. c Alexis López Hernández, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 109995784
Dioscorea mexicana, photographed by Matteo Cassella
fig. d Matteo Cassella, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 122747723
Dioscorea mexicana, photographed by Alexis López Hernández
fig. e Alexis López Hernández, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 109996587
Dioscorea mexicana, photographed by harrier
fig. f harrier, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 175315526
Dioscorea mexicana, photographed by harrier
fig. g harrier, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 175315549
Dioscorea mexicana, photographed by keesgroenendijk
fig. h keesgroenendijk, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 153728591

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 12 botanical countries

Regions where Dioscorea mexicana is native: Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Belize, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panamá Mexico CentralMexico GulfMexico NortheastMexico SoutheastMexico SouthwestBelizeColombiaCosta RicaGuatemalaHondurasNicaraguaPanamá
Native distribution of Dioscorea mexicana, 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.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Belize BLZ SOUTHERN AMERICA
Colombia CLM
Costa Rica COS
Guatemala GUA
Honduras HON
Nicaragua NIC
Panamá PAN
Mexico Central MXC NORTHERN AMERICA
Mexico Gulf MXG
Mexico Northeast MXE
Mexico Southeast MXT
Mexico Southwest MXS

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 14 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 anconensis R.Knuth
  • Dioscorea astrostigma Uline
  • Dioscorea bilbergiana Kunth
  • Dioscorea deamii Matuda
  • Dioscorea deppei Schiede ex Schltdl.
  • Dioscorea leiboldiana Kunth
  • Dioscorea macrophylla M.Martens & Galeotti
  • Dioscorea macrostachya Benth.
  • Dioscorea macrostachya var. sessiliflora Uline
  • Dioscorea mexicana var. sessiliflora (Uline) Matuda
  • Dioscorea propinqua Hemsl.
  • Dioscorea tuerckheimii R.Knuth
  • Testudinaria cocolmeca Procop.
  • Testudinaria macrostachya (Benth.) G.D.Rowley

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. USDA PLANTS Database. common name, checklist symbol DIMA15. public domain. 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.