Dioscorea elephantipes(L’Hér . ) Engl .
Elephant ’s Foot , Hottentot Bread , Hottentots ' Bread , Tortoise Back Plant , Turtle Back , Turtle Shell
Dioscorea elephantopus , Dioscorea testudinaria , Rhizemys elephantipes , Tamus elephantipes , Testudinaria elephantipes
Photo viaseedvendor.com
family unit : DioscoreaceaeGenus : Dioscorea
Dioscorea elephantipesis a weird but unique and beautiful industrial plant with a large , unwrap genus Tuber cover with grayish , angulate , corky plate and one-year climbing stems twist to the unexpended and bearing heart - shaped leafage . The genus Tuber grows very slowly but can reach more than 3.3 feet ( 1 thousand ) in superlative and 10 fundament ( 3 m ) in diam . The flora is summer - deciduous , so it drops its leaves in summer . The stem normally die back during the summer , and new shoots come out in winter .
This works is dioecian , having the male and female flowers in freestanding plant . The bloom are pale greenish - yellow and ordinarily come along in winter . The male flowers are hold in erect , spiny racemes , while the female flowers in spinescent , nod to spreading spikes .
Dioscorea elephantipesis aboriginal to the dry interior ofSouth Africa . It grow on dry , rocky slopes in the Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces .
USDA hardiness zone9b to 11b : from 25 ° F ( −3.9 ° C ) to 50 ° F ( +10 ° C ) .
In most climate , Elephant ’s Foot are mature as indoor plants , and the plant is comparatively leisurely to grow from seed . The roots are n’t deep , so plant Elephant ’s Foot in a shallow flock filled with holey , well - drained potting soil . Water the plant around the edges of the pot and not directly on the tuber . Allow the territory to become nearly teetotal before watering again .
If you grow Elephant ’s Foot outdoors , identify it in sandlike soil rectify with deep , well - rotted compost . Be heedful not tooverwater .
Elephant ’s Foot care is simple . Feed the plantwith a very diluted ( 25 percent of recommend ) fertilizer with each tearing . Withhold fertiliser and water slenderly during the plant ’s dormant period , when the vines turn lily-livered and go back . Plants often go sleeping during the summer , but there is no rigid pattern or docket .
If the vine dry out up completely during dormancy , move the works to a cool blank space and withhold water for about two weeks , then take back it to the cheery location and resume veritable care .
The propagation of the Elephant ’s Foot can be done from seed . newspaper clipping are not an choice . The seed capsule must be wry before the seeds can be compile . The seeds , which are wing , should be sow in flat seed pans . They should be covered with a sowing medium under 2 inches ( 5 atomic number 96 ) .
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