Air-Potato (Dioscorea bulbifera)

Oh, come on, Floridian... you've really got me curious on this one. Why not go back an add a comment and some info? It looks like a potato...but an air potato?

Is that the kind of potato some people put in their gumbo?

Don't know much about this vine personally Weez, except I really try to keep it off my plants and out of my yard. This was a potato we found on a wildflower walk, a good sized one at that!
LOL Weeds, you grow this one don't you?
Okay Weez, I'll do some research and add as much info as I can. Ran out of time on this earlier! I played in Dave's Garden all day today...I have a wonderful boss!!

Isn't it cool? She isn't kidding. Hope she does add the info you all want though. I had some potatoes sent to me by a DG friend last year and they were as big as softballs and baseballs. I'm not eating them though....

Ha Floridian...I don't grow IT, IT just grows, and grows, and grows.

Floridian,
What kind of camera do you use? If I knew, i forgot.

Well, somebody's got to add some info or we're all going to die of curiosity! LOL Yes, I've spent a good part of my day on Dave's, too, but I'm my own boss and I've been grumbling at myself about it all day!

Oops! Just went back to the entry and found your comment entry, Floridian. I was really impressed with that tuber that grows to 70 ft in length... it's a typo.... right?

LOL Weeds...I think it just grows for most of us, sorta like Trumpet Vine and Grape! How far north is this vine a problem...can anyone tell us?
Sony Mavica CD1000

Floridian: Here's what you wrote: "In spring the tubers start to grow (as does EVERY potato that touches the ground) and often reach 70 feet and more in a single season." I assume you meant the vine, but I thought you might want to edit it. If the tuber does get that big, I think you'd better nuke it! LOL

Form the look of it, this plant is another example of non-native invasives that become a nightmare. If the tubers were edible, it might serve a purpose, but that's not even the case. It's scary what happens when somebody brings home an interesting plant from far away. Thanks for posting it... really interesting.

I have a fear of the trumpet vine, it is kin to kudzu, I think.

LOL Weez! That would be one big tuber!! All fixed now, thanks. Yes this is a beautiful monster here, lucky northerers can grow it with no problems. I read it was introduced in Florida in 1905 and classified nuisance by the 70s.

I'm a little disappointed, Floridian. I was looking forward to a picture of one of those 70 ft. tubers. You could hollow one out and make a canoe out of it! So it took 65 years for it to become a real nuisance. It's only taken me 55!

Brugie, I wish this wasn't a baddie here, it, like so many other invasives are some of our prettiest plants.
Weeds, I think they're all kissin' cousins, and here in the south...well!! LOL!
Weez, you're a hoot. I read back over what I've written and laugh! I was tired!! Just think of all the things you could do with a 70 ft tuber. Feed a family of 5 for years. You'd be a hit at a community pot luck! I really like the dugout idea. I have a tuber at the base of a pine tree that we've never seen the whole of, it is wrapped in the pine roots. Maybe I'll do some excavating one day and see what's really there. I'll have another picture to post tonight of the potatoes on the vine.

Yes, I can envision one of those badly produced horror films.. The Tuber That Ate Miami or The Curse of the Killer Tuber... or Atomic Tuber. The possibilities are endless!

ROFLMAO! I have never seen or heard of anything like that...what a conversation piece that must be!

Floridian, maybe that tuber in the pine roots will turn into Amber and you will be either rich or have the biggest ring in town.
Weez, maybe the airforce could use them, tuber bombs make a mess of the Middle East. They are still eating their way out.

Or underwater as tuber torpedos, Weeds! ;)

I se to know a guy in a big band, he played the tuber.

ROFL! Maybe we could hollow them out, inflate them and make inner tube-rs!

HA HA HA Weez! That is the best idea yet. Floridian, you go first.

ROFL! In the words of the (in)famous 'Shoe...Y'all ain't right!!

Floridian, I can't believe you are actually letting one of these things grow. It is a neat vine, but talk about invasive! As Tom McCubbin would say, "The wrong plant in the wrong place." The "potatoes" are supposedly edible. Has anyone ever tried eating them???

LOL ButterflyGardnr! I'm not letting them grow on purpose. I hate this vine. I've pulled out hundreds of them, even more! We just bought the house in February and it has been an ongoing job. When we were talking about the vine the other day, I went looking for more pictures. Like Dorothy, I didn't need to look further than my own backyard!!

The first time I had seen this was at a flower show last week, and it wasn't the same shape.

EXTREME CAUTION !!!!!!I BECAME FAMILIAR WITH THIS AIR POTATO BY ACCIDENT SOON AFTER RELOCATING TO fLORIDA...IT WAS IN A POT OF HERBS THAT A NEIGHBOR HAD GIVEN TO ME....I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT IT WAS AT THE TIME...LOOKED LIKE A SMALL IVY GROWING FROM A SMALL BULB..I PLANTED IT AND IT GREW INCHES PER DAY!! AFTER A COUPLE OF MONTHS I NOTICED SOME SOME BULBS GROWING ON THE STEMS...I KNOCKED THE BULBS OFF AND PUT THEM IN A JAR TO DEAL WITH LATER...AFTER 12 HOURS OR SO THE PALM OF MY HAND BECAME ITCHY AND VERY SORE AT THE SAME TIME...BY THE NEXT DAY A HUGE RASH HAD DEVELOPED WITH BIG BLISTERS...I COULD NOT STOP THIS FROM SPREADING AND I WENT STRAIGHT TO THE DOCTORS...TWO INJECTIONS AND A 6 DAY PREDNISONE PACK SLOWLY AND I DO MEAN SLOWLY STOPPED IT FROM SPREADING...10 DAYS LATER IT WAS STILL NOT COMPLETELY GONE...A STRONG WARNING TO EVERYONE ABOUT THIS PLANT...ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE ALLERGIC TO POISON IVY,OAK,OR SUMAC. THIS IS THE WORST ALLERGIC REACTION I HAVE EVER HAD IN MY LIFETIME AND IT IS EXTREMELY PAINFUL AS IT BURNS AND ITCHES AT THE SAME TIME...BELEIVE ME ...IT'S NOT WORTH IT.

I am working in a green house for special kids, and I would love to have a couple of these to start a new plant for them
would you consider selling me a couple
thanks