Dioscorea japonica is used for food. Jinenjo, also called the wild yam, is a related variety of Japanese yam that is used as an ingredient in soba noodles.
Names
In Japanese, it is known as yamaimo (山芋, "mountain yam").[4]Jinenjo (自然薯, "wild yam") is another kind of Dioscorea japonica, which is native to fields and mountains in Japan.
In Chinese, Dioscorea japonica is known as yě shānyào (野山藥) which translates to English as "wild Chinese yam" or simply "wild yam".[citation needed] Another name is Rìběn shǔyù (日本薯蕷; literally "Japanese yam").[3]
In Korean, it is known as cham ma (참마), as well as dang ma (당마).[citation needed]
^Ohwi, Jisaburo (1965). Meyer, Frederick G.; Walker, Egbert H. (eds.). Flora of Japan. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution. p. 314. OCLC742327504. Retrieved 21 January 2012.
^Antimutagenic Activity of (+)-β-Eudesmol and Paeonol from Dioscorea japonica. Mitsuo Miyazawa, Hideo Shimamura, Sei-ichi Nakamura and Hiromu Kameoka, J. Agric. Food Chem., 1996, 44 (7), pages 1647–1650, doi:10.1021/jf950792u