Dioscorea buchananii Benth.
subsp. buchananii

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Photo: Bart Wursten
Swanepoel Concession, Cheringoma

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Synonyms:
Common names:
Frequency:
Status:	Native
Description:	Climber with annual, unarmed, left-twining stems, growing from an globose to ovoid, perennial, woody tuber. Bulbils absent. Leaves alternate with blade very variable even on the same plant, entire to shallowly or deeply 3-5-7-lobed, hairless. Inflorescences simple with male flowers in racemes, greenish, c. 1 cm in diameter. Capsule, 2.2-3 cm long and 1.8-3.2 cm wide.
Notes:
Derivation of specific name:	buchananii: after John Buchanan (1855 – 1896), Scottish horticulturist, missionary, farmer and plant collector in Malawi, who became Acting British Consul to Central Africa. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Buchanan_(settler).
Habitat:	In rocky habitats on limestone and granite or on termite mounds in Brachystegia woodland, riverine forest, and near mangrove swamps.
Altitude range:	0 - 1600 m
Flowering time:
Worldwide distribution:	Angola, DRC, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Mozambique distribution:	N,Z,T,MS,GI
Growth form(s):
Endemic status:
Red data list status:
Insects associated with this species:
Spot characters:	Display spot characters for this species
Content last updated:	Thursday 28 December 2017
Literature:	Bandeira, S., Bolnick, D. & Barbosa, F. (2007). Wild Flowers of Southern Mozambique Universidade Eduardo Mondlane, Maputo, Mozambique Pages 68 - 69. (Includes a picture). Mapaura, A. & Timberlake, J. (eds) (2004). A checklist of Zimbabwean vascular plants Southern African Botanical Diversity Network Report No. 33 Sabonet, Pretoria and Harare Page 90. Milne-Redhead, E. (1975). Dioscoreaceae Flora of Tropical East Africa Pages 19 - 20. National Herbarium, Harare (SRGH) (various dates). (Usually used to indicate the presence of a specimen) Page 125. Wilkin, P. (2001). Dioscoreaceae of South-Central Africa Kew Bulletin 56(2) Pages 377 - 379. (Includes a picture). Wilkin, P. (2009). Dioscoreaceae Flora Zambesiaca 12(2) Pages 118 - 119. (Includes a picture). Wilkin, P. & Muthama Muasya, A. (2015). Clarifying the Dioscorea buchananii Benth. species complex: a new potentially extinct subspecies for South Africa PhytoKeys 48 Pages 57 - 59.

Other sources of information about Dioscorea buchananii subsp. buchananii:

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Flora of Malawi: Dioscorea buchananii subsp. buchananii
Flora of Zambia: Dioscorea buchananii subsp. buchananii
Flora of Zimbabwe: Dioscorea buchananii subsp. buchananii

External websites:

African Plants: A Photo Guide (Senckenberg): Dioscorea buchananii
African Plant Database: Dioscorea buchananii
BHL (Biodiversity Heritage Library): Dioscorea buchananii
EOL (Encyclopedia of Life): Dioscorea buchananii
GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility): Dioscorea buchananii
Google: Web - Images - Scholar
iNaturalist: Dioscorea buchananii
IPNI (International Plant Names Index): Dioscorea buchananii
JSTOR Plant Science: Dioscorea buchananii
Mansfeld World Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Crops: Dioscorea buchananii
Plants of the World Online: Dioscorea buchananii
Tropicos: Dioscorea buchananii
Wikipedia: Dioscorea buchananii