Dioscorea discolor

Identity and natural range of Dioscorea discolor

This plant is widely known in cultivation as Dioscorea discolor. Its current botanical name is Dioscorea dodecaneura.

The species has a broad South American range, extending from the Guianas and northern South America through Brazil, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia into Paraguay and northern Argentina.

What Dioscorea discolor needs at home

• Light: Provide bright filtered light with gentle direct sun for part of the day. Good light helps the stems stay firm and the leaf pattern remain clear.
• Temperature: Keep temperatures around 20–26 °C. Relocate it before temperatures hold below 15 °C for an extended period. Keep the plant warm and frost-free while it is growing.
• Humidity: Keep relative humidity around 50–60% with light air movement.
• Water: While the vine is growing, water thoroughly when the upper part of the potting mix begins to dry.
• Resting period: If the whole vine yellows and dies back while the tuber stays firm, pause feeding, water much less and leave the tuber in its pot. Resume regular watering when a new shoot appears.
• Potting mix: Use a loose, well-drained mix with both organic material and pumice or perlite.
• Feeding: Feed lightly while new stems and leaves are growing.
• Support: Give new shoots a trellis, hoop or thin stake early so the stems have something to twine around.
• Propagation and repotting: Established tubers can be divided into sections with healthy growing points. Repot when the tuber or roots begin to crowd the container.

Problems to watch for in Dioscorea discolor

• Long gaps between small pale leaves: The vine is growing with too little light. Move it gradually into a brighter position and guide new stems onto a support.
• Leaf edges turn brown while the vine is still growing: Irregular watering, hot dry air or fertiliser salts can dry the foliage. Check moisture in the potting mix and rinse it thoroughly with plain water if salts have built up.
• The tuber or stem base becomes soft and dark: The base may be rotting. Take the plant out of the pot and cut any soft dark tissue back to firm healthy tissue with a clean blade. Discard the rotten parts, let the cut surface dry and repot in fresh, well-drained potting mix.
• Fine pale speckles, webbing or silver marks appear: Spider mites or thrips may be feeding on the leaves. Isolate the vine, inspect the undersides and treat for the pest you find according to the label. Keep checking new leaves for webbing, speckles or fresh silver marks after treatment.

Keep Dioscorea discolor away from children and pets

• Keep this plant away from children, cats and dogs.
• Its effects after chewing or swallowing are unclear, and plant material can still cause an upset stomach.
• Contact a veterinarian or medical professional if symptoms develop or do not settle.

Dioscorea discolor and Dioscorea dodecaneura: why did the name change?

Dioscorea commemorates the Greek physician and botanist Pedanius Dioscorides. The Latin epithet discolor means differently coloured or two-coloured.

Carl Linnaeus established the genus Dioscorea in 1753 in Species Plantarum, page 1032; Charles Plumier had proposed the name.

Karl Sigismund Kunth first described Dioscorea discolor in 1850 in Enumeratio Plantarum, volume 5, page 334.

Kew’s World Checklist treats Dioscorea discolor as a synonym of Dioscorea dodecaneura. José Mariano da Conceição Vellozo first described Dioscorea dodecaneura in 1831 in Flora Fluminensis, volume 10, plate 123.