 Botany
Nami is a twining vine, arising from tuberous roots,
and reaching a length of several meters. Stems covered with few or many
short, sharp spines. Leaves are 3-foliolate, the leaflets 12 to 20 cm long, somewhat
hairy, the lateral ones oblique, oblong-ovate, the terminal one equilateral, oblong to oblong-obovate. Panicle is axillary, slender, hairy, 12 to 20 cm long. Flowers are small; unisexual male flowers with 6 stamens; female
flowers similar to males, 3-winged, 3-celled, ovules 2 in each cell.
Fruit is a capsule, oblong and about 5 cm long. Flesh and sap of tubers are yellowish.
Distribution
- Growing wild, chiefly in thickets
and forests at low and medium altitudes throughout the Philippines.
- Rarely cultivated.
- Occurs in India to southwestern China and Formosa and through Malaya to New Guinea.
Parts
utilized
- Underground tubers.
- May be collected throughout the year. Keep in moist
sand before using, or rinse, then section into slices and sun-dry.
Constituents
- Contains a poisonous alkaloid, dioscoreine, acting like picrotoxin.
- Study of mineral content reports the tubers are a good source of phosphorus, calcium and iron.
Properties
- Flesh and sap of the tubers are yellowish.
-
Anti-infectious, antiphlogistic,
anticontusion, hemostatic.
- Sweet tart-tasting, cooling.
Uses
Edibility
- Despite known toxicity, in Thailand, where it is referred to as Kloi, tubers are used to make a dessert called Kao Nuew Kloi.
- In Kerala, India, tuberous herb cooked with salt, chili, tamarind and tumeric powder and used as curry.
Folkloric
Tuber, raw or cooked used as anodyne and maturative for tumors and buboes.
Also used
arthrtic and rheumatic pains. sprains and contusions.
Use poultice of freshly pounded material or decoction as external wash.
In Johore, decoction of tuber used as alterative and diuretic in chronic rheumatism.
Others
• Bleaching: Yellow juice from the flesh and sap of tubers is used for bleaching
clothes and abaca fibers.
• Poison: Juice of tubers used in criminal poisoning.
Also, used as an ingredient together with Antiaris toxicaria in the preparation of arrow poisons.
• Livestock: Tubers used as cure for myiasis of the scrotum in carabaos.
Studies
• Phytochemicals / Phenolic Content:
Study showed phenolic acids were present in only small amounts in Kloi tuber, compared to relatively high phenolic content for other yam Dioscorea species. The anomaly was attributed to the sample preparation, hydrolysis time and/or pH. Preliminary findings and documented nutritive value suggest the tuber as a potential source of phytochemicals for cosmetic, pharmaceutical or dietary antioxidant use.
Caution
!
- Tubers contain the poisonous alkaloid dioscoreine, resembling
picrotoxin.
-
It is a nervous system paralyzant, not a protoplasmic poison.
-
It has been reportedly
used in criminal poisoning.
Availability
Wild-crafted. |
