| Chinese yam |
USDA PLANTS Symbol: DIOP USDA ARS GRIN: 402570 ITIS: 502075 |
| Dioscorea oppositifolia L. | |
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Taxonomic Rank: Liliopsida: Dioscoreales: Dioscoreaceae |
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Chinese yam is an herbaceous, twining vine that is often found climbing. It invades open to shady areas in the eastern United States. The leaves resemble greenbrier leaves. They are alternate or opposite, 8 in. (20.3 cm) long, wide, long petiolate, heart to fiddle-shaped with prominent, parallel veins. Leaves are usually more rounded when young or on young plants and fiddle-shaped farther along the stem and on older plants. The rounded stems are thin and wiry. The chief means of reproduction are by aerial potato-like tubers (bulbils) located at the leaf axils and by underground tubers. The vine rarely flowers. Chinese yam can form dense masses of vines that cover and kill native vegetation including trees within a variety of moist disturbed habitats. It was introduced from Asia for ornamental, food, and medicinal purposes and escaped cultivation in the mid 1990s. |
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Identification, Biology, Control and Management Resources
- Weed of the Week - USDA Forest Service
- Element Stewardship Abstract - The Nature Conservancy
- Southeast Exotic Pest Plant Council Invasive Plant Manual - SE-EPPC
- Nonnative Invasive Plants of Southern Forests - USDA Forest Service
| Selected Images from Invasive.org | View All Images at Invasive.org |
 Plant(s); Great Smoky Mountains National Park Resource Management Archive, USDI National Park Service, Bugwood.org Additional Resolutions & Image Usage |
 Plant(s); Troy Evans, Eastern Kentucky University, Bugwood.org Additional Resolutions & Image Usage |
 Foliage; July James H. Miller, USDA Forest Service, Bugwood.org Additional Resolutions & Image Usage |
 Feature(s); Aerial tubers and foliage Jack Ranney, University of Tennessee, Bugwood.org Additional Resolutions & Image Usage |
 Foliage; Chris Evans, River to River CWMA, Bugwood.org Additional Resolutions & Image Usage |
 Feature(s); aerial tubers Chris Evans, River to River CWMA, Bugwood.org Additional Resolutions & Image Usage |
 Fruit(s); aerial tubers Chris Evans, River to River CWMA, Bugwood.org Additional Resolutions & Image Usage |
 Foliage; Chris Evans, River to River CWMA, Bugwood.org Additional Resolutions & Image Usage |
 Infestation; Chris Evans, River to River CWMA, Bugwood.org Additional Resolutions & Image Usage |
 Infestation; Chris Evans, River to River CWMA, Bugwood.org Additional Resolutions & Image Usage |
 Infestation; Chris Evans, River to River CWMA, Bugwood.org Additional Resolutions & Image Usage |
 Seed(s); Steve Hurst, USDA NRCS PLANTS Database, Bugwood.org Additional Resolutions & Image Usage |
Taxonomic References:
- USDA, NRCS. 2001. The PLANTS Database, Version 3.1, National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA.
Invasive Listing Sources:
- Faith Campbell, 1998. Plants that Hog the Garden: Invasive Plants in the United States. Fine Gardening Online
- Jil M. Swearingen, Survey of invasive plants occurring on National Park Service lands, 2000-2007
- Maryland Department of Natural Resources, 1994
- Mid-Atlantic Exotic Pest Plant Council, 2005
- Missouri Department of Conservation,
- Nonnative Invasive Species in Southern Forest and Grassland Ecosystems
- Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, 1999.
- WeedUS - Database of Plants Invading Natural Areas in the United States
- Alabama Invasive Plant Council
- Georgia Exotic Pest Plant Council Category 2
- Kentucky Exotic Pest Plant Council Severe Threat
- South Carolina Exotic Pest Plant Council Watch A
- Tennessee Exotic Pest Plant Council Severe Threat
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