Dioscorea elephantipes is a South African yam that grows from an enormous, deeply fissured stem resembling an elephant’s foot or tortoise shell. From this armoured base emerges a slender vine with heart-shaped leaves, which disappears during the hot summer and returns in winter. One wild specimen was estimated to weigh 365 kilograms. It is essentially a delicate climbing plant attached to a small geological event.
Dioscorea elephantipes
