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Dr. Duke's Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases
U.S. Department of Agriculture
  1. Home
  2. Dioscorea alata

Dioscorea alata (Dioscoreaceae)

Common Names
Greater Yam; Winged Yam
How this plant is used
Food
View the list of ubiquitous chemicals
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List of plant chemicals.
Click on column headings to sort table by that column. *Unless otherwise noted all references are to (Duke, 1992)
Chemical Name Activity Count Plant Part Low Parts Per Million High Parts Per Million Standard Deviation Reference
PHOSPHORUS 4 Root 48.0 2190.0 -0.23 *
POTASSIUM 14 Root 2240.0 15040.0 -0.05 *
PROTEIN 0 Root 11000.0 63085.0 -0.62 *
RIBOFLAVIN 15 Root 0.2 1.1 -0.65 *
SODIUM 1 Root 22.0 335.0 -0.36 *
STARCH 5 Root 159000.0 743000.0 1.79 *
SUCINATES 0 Root *
SUGARS 0 Root 5000.0 35980.0 -0.66 *
SULFUR 14 Root 98.0 990.0 -0.51 *
THIAMIN 31 Root 0.3 1.4 -0.47 *
WATER 0 Root 650000.0 786000.0 0.11 *
ZINC 77 Root 2.0 17.0 -0.31 *
View the list of ubiquitous chemicals
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List of plant activities.
Click on column headings to sort table by that column. *Unless otherwise noted all references are to (Duke, 1992)
Activity Chemical Count Reference
Fibrinolytic 1 *
Fistula-Preventive 1 Pizzorno, J.E. and Murray, M.T. 1985. A Textbook of Natural Medicine. John Bastyr College Publications, Seattle, Washington (Looseleaf).
Fungicide 1 Nigg, H.N. and Seigler, D.S., eds. 1992. Phytochemical Resources for Medicine and Agriculture. Plenum Press, New York. 445 pp.
Gastroprotective 1 *
Hepatoprotective 2 *
Hepatotoxic 1 *
Hepatotropic 1 *
Herbicide 1 Angewandte Botanik 68(5/6)=1994. Page 195.
Hydrocholerectic 1 Jeffery B. Harborne and H. Baxter, eds. 1983. Phytochemical Dictionary. A Handbook of Bioactive Compounds from Plants. Taylor & Frost, London. 791 pp.
Hypertensive 1 Davies, S., and Stewart, A. 1990. Nutritional Medicine. Avon Books, New York. 509pp.
Hypocholesterolemic 6 Davies, S., and Stewart, A. 1990. Nutritional Medicine. Avon Books, New York. 509pp.
Hypoglycemic 3 *
Hypolipidemic 2 *
Hypotensive 6 *
Hypouricemic 1 *
Immunomodulator 4 *
Immunostimulant 5 Pizzorno, J.E. and Murray, M.T. 1985. A Textbook of Natural Medicine. John Bastyr College Publications, Seattle, Washington (Looseleaf).
Immunosuppressant 1 Martindale's 29th
Insectifuge 2 Tunon, H., Thorsell, W., and Bohlin, L. 1993. Mosquito Repelling Activity of Compounds Occurring in Achillea millefolium L. (Asteraceae). Economic Botany 48(2): 111-120, 1994.
Insulinogenic 2 Challem, J., Berkson, Burt, and Smith, Melissa Dianne. 2000.
Syndrome X - The complete nutritional program to prevent and reservse insulin resistance. John Wiley & Sons, New York. 272 pp. $24.95