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Yams of Madagascar

A female plant of Dioscorea ovinala, an important edible yam from Madagascar, showing the leaves and fleshy immature capsules

The yams of Madagascar are unique in three ways: 1) in their degree of endemism (most belong to an endemic clade, which represents one of the main lineages within Dioscorea); 2) almost all species have edible tubers; and 3) they are extracted from forest as wild plants, rather than being cultivated. The rural population, especially in areas outside the central highlands, rely on these wild yams to supplement the unreliable rice harvest.

This project started in 1997 through the study of Malagasy species of Dioscoreaceae and Burmanniaceae for the Systematics of Dioscoreales project. It has continued to underpin the Systematics of Dioscoreales project through providing material, especially for studies of pollen morphology and DNA sequencing. Since 2000 the main priority has been a complete systematic revision of the 40 species (including ones from the Comores) and five infraspecific taxa. Diversity is highest in the seasonal forests of the West and North-West, but yams can be found in all parts of the island. Nine species new to science have been discovered. This systematic phase will be complete by June 2006. It has also yielded a database of 1,000 geo-referenced specimens. This was used in a GIS-based study of the factors underlying species distributions and in producing conservation assessments. Nine papers have been published in peer-reviewed journals during the 2001-05 period. Collaboration with ethnobotanists, phytochemists and applied biologists in Madagascar and France has proved important in this project to date. In the period 2006-10 it will be built upon to produce a multidisciplinary guide to the yams of Madagascar, to investigate sustainable levels of utilisation and implement practical conservation measures.

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