Dioscorea sylvaticaEckl.

WFO wfo-0000395752 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Dioscorea sylvatica, photographed by Andrew Gillespie
fig. a Andrew Gillespie, CC BY-SA 4.0 / 2021-07-25 / obs. 146309774
Dioscorea sylvatica, photographed by James Deacon
fig. b James Deacon, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 116262850
Dioscorea sylvatica, photographed by Di Turner
fig. c Di Turner, CC0 1.0 / obs. 63739750
Dioscorea sylvatica, photographed by Nicola van Berkel
fig. d Nicola van Berkel, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 50589791
Dioscorea sylvatica, photographed by Henry de Lange
fig. e Henry de Lange, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 39035643
Dioscorea sylvatica, photographed by Tony Rebelo
fig. f Tony Rebelo, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 42144686
Dioscorea sylvatica, photographed by Nicola van Berkel
fig. g Nicola van Berkel, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 32571632
Dioscorea sylvatica, photographed by Manuel R Popp
fig. h Manuel R Popp, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 179847596

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 8 botanical countries

Regions where Dioscorea sylvatica is native: Cape Provinces, Eswatini, Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, Mozambique, Northern Provinces, Zambia, Zimbabwe Cape ProvincesEswatiniFree StateKwaZulu-NatalMozambiqueNorthern ProvincesZambiaZimbabwe
Native distribution of Dioscorea sylvatica, 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
Cape Provinces CPP AFRICA
Eswatini SWZ
Free State OFS
KwaZulu-Natal NAT
Mozambique MOZ
Northern Provinces TVL
Zambia ZAM
Zimbabwe ZIM

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 27 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 brevipes Burtt Davy
  • Dioscorea hederifolia Griseb.
  • Dioscorea marlothii R.Knuth
  • Dioscorea montana var. duemmeri R.Knuth
  • Dioscorea montana var. glauca R.Knuth
  • Dioscorea montana var. lobata Weim.
  • Dioscorea montana var. paniculata (Kuntze) R.Knuth
  • Dioscorea montana var. sagittata Suess.
  • Dioscorea rehmannii Baker
  • Dioscorea sylvatica subsp. lydenbergensis Blunden, Hardman & F.J.Hind
  • Dioscorea sylvatica var. brevipes (Burtt Davy) Burkill
  • Dioscorea sylvatica var. multiflora (Marloth) Burkill
  • Dioscorea sylvatica var. paniculata (Dummer) Burkill
  • Dioscorea sylvatica var. rehmannii (Baker) Burkill
  • Dioscorea sylvatica var. sylvatica
  • Tamus sylvestris Kunth
  • Testudinaria glaucescens Hügel
  • Testudinaria montana var. paniculata Kuntze
  • Testudinaria multiflora Marloth
  • Testudinaria paniculata Dummer
  • Testudinaria rehmannii (Baker) G.D.Rowley
  • Testudinaria sylvatica (Eckl.) Kunth
  • Testudinaria sylvatica var. brevipes (Burtt Davy) G.D.Rowley
  • Testudinaria sylvatica var. lydenbergensis (Blunden, Hardman & F.J.Hind) G.D.Rowley

and 3 more.

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. 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.