Dioscorea is an herbaceous twining perennial common in the eastern and central United States. Twining in hedges, and over bushes and fences, the thin, woolly, reddish-brown stem grows up to 6m long. The slender, tuberous rootstock is crooked and laterally branched. Broadly ovate and cordate, the leaves are from 5-15cm long and 3-12cm wide, glabrous on top, and finely hairy underneath. They are usually alternate, but the lower leaves sometimes grow in twos and fours. The small, greenish-yellow flowers bloom during June and July, the male flowers in drooping panicles, the female indrooping, spicate racemes. The fruit is a three-winged capsule containing winged seeds.