Dioscorea Elephantipes rare Testudinaria elephant foot yam Caudiciform 5 seeds

Elephant's foot yam is a spectacular shrubby climber, which grows up to 1.5 m high. It has a huge caudiciform tuber reaching a diameter of up to 75 cm, which is mainly exposed above ground. The epidermis (skin) of the tuber is greyish-brown and hard, with numerous plates of thick cork (resembling the plates of a tortoise shell). Others have thought it resembles the skin of an elephant, hence the common name elephant's foot yam. The inner tissue is yellowish-white, opaque and brittle. Shoots arise from growing points at the top of the tuber in October to November and persist for 10 to 14 months. Unlike many other yams, they twine only at the tips. The main stem grows up to 90 cm long and up to 15 mm in diameter at the base, and is dark brown, hairless and branched. The leaves are small, usually less than 3 cm long and wide; they are variable in shape but the base is rounded to shallowly heart-shaped. The leaves become bluish with age and fold up along the mid-vein when the plant lacks water to reduce its loss. Like almost all yams (Dioscorea), D. elephantipes is dioecious; it has separate male and female plants. The male flowers are yellowish-green and are borne on an inflorescence up to 8 cm long, which is present from November to February. The female inflorescences are yellowish-green, up to 8 cm long, and have up to 15 flowers with mustard-coloured tepals. The fruit is a dry, 3-winged capsule to 2 cm long and 1.8 cm in diameter. Capsules are light brown with darker diagonal markings and ripen in April to October. Each capsule bears up to 6 light brown, apically-winged seeds.