Purple yam (Dioscorea alata)

Uwi or purple yam (Dioscorea alata) is a species of plant in the Dioscoreaceae, climbing shrub up to 10 meters, fibrous root system, tubers round or flat long and branched. The skin of the tuber is brown to blackish-brown and coarsely grooved. The inner tubers are white or purple or yellow and slimy.

Male flowers are yellow or greenish and female flowers are yellow. Compound inflorescence, in the axils of the leaves, the male grains are tightly packed, 12-50 cm long, green crown and 2 mm long.

Stem has 4 corners with fins, climbing to the right, not spiny but sometimes rough or speckled at the base and green or purplish in color.

Leaves are ovate or heart or arrow-shaped or lance-shaped, single, alternate at the base, opposite at the top, bright green or often slightly purplish, 15-20 cm long and 10-15 cm wide.

Tubers and young leaves are cooked in various ways as food ingredients. The tubers can be processed as flour or thin pieces or for the manufacture of alcohol. Cultivars with purple tubers are used in making ice cream and candy. The tubers have a bland taste with a fluffier texture.

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Liliopsida
Order: Dioscoreales
Family: Dioscoreaceae
Genus: Dioscorea
Species: Dioscorea alata

Purwaceng (Pimpinella pruatjan)

Purwaceng or purwoceng or antanan gunung or Viagra of Java ( Pimpinella pruatjan or Pimpinella priatjan ) are small termas growing horizontally in Apiaceae, growing in villages on Dieng Plateau, Central Java Province, Indonesia, at 1,500 to 2,000 meters above sea level, the roots have medicinal properties for aphrodisiacs and are usually processed in powder form for a mixture of coffee or milk. P. pruatjan grows flat on the ground but does not propagate, small leaves are reddish green for 1-3 cm in diameter. This plant is only found in Java and grows in high mountain areas. A low population where industrial demand is very high results in increasingly scarce. Another place that is likely to become a purwaceng habitat is the Iyang Mountains and the Tengger Mountains in East Java Province. Efforts to multiply and cultivate have a big problem where these plants have difficulty producing seeds. In vitro propagation research through tissue cultivation has been carried out to overcome ...

Six new species forming the Sumbana species group in genus Nemophora Hoffmannsegg 1798 from Indonesia

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