Atlantic yam

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Atlantic yam

Atlantic yam habit

Atlantic yam fruit

Atlantic yam leaf

Atlantic yam inflorescence

Atlantic yam

Atlantic yam flowers

Atlantic yam leaf

Atlantic yam fruit

Morphology

Stem

Twining, grooved or narrowly winged, glabrous or rarely sparsely pubescent.

Leaves

Lower alternate, opposite, sub-opposite, or whorled, upper alternate; petiole 1.2 to 5.6 inches; blade 7-11-veined, ovate, 1.2 to 5.2 inches long, .8 to 5.2 inches wide, base cordate, margins entire, apex acute to acuminate, abaxial surface glabrous, glandular, or sparsely to densely pubescent.

Inflorescence

Dioecious. Staminate inflorescences 1 per axil, panicle-like, branched, 1.2 to 3.2 inches long, pendent; cymes sessile, 1-3-flowered. Pistillate inflorescences 1 per node, spike-like, pendent, 1.6 to 8 inches long, 4-18-flowered.

Flower

Inconspicuous; perianth greenish white, rotate-campanulate; tepals 6, in 2 whorls of 3, basally connate, petal-like, ovate-elliptic, apex rounded or acute; staminate flowers .04 to .12 inch diam.; stamens 6; pistillate flowers .08 to .16 inch diam.; pistils 3; styles 3, distinct; stigmas 3.

Fruit

Capsules greenish gold, ovoid to obovoid, .4 to 1.2 inch long, .2 to 1.4 inch wide, 3-winged; seeds 2 per locule, flattened or globose, flattened, winged.

Ecology

Habitat

Floodplain and oak-hickory forests, creek banks, thickets; sandy or rocky soils

Distribution

East 1/5 of Kansas

Additional Notes

Synonyms

Alternative scientific names that have been used for this plant.