Plant · P-268

Air Potato

Dioscorea bulbifera

Air Potato is a true perennial vine that produces edible bulbils in its leaf axils along with an underground tuber - unlike frost-killed relatives such as cassava, winter cold does not check it once established, which is what makes it hard to contain. Wild and many cultivated forms stay toxic raw from an alkaloid called dioscorine, so only a named edible cultivar bred free of it should ever be eaten, and always cooked. Its vine can run 65-70 feet in a season and drop bulbils that root wherever they land, so containment is an ongoing job, not a one-time fix. Before acquiring any planting material, check local noxious-weed and import regulations, since some places restrict this species even though growing one already established usually is not the offense.