Culinary uses

Flavor · Pairings

Dioscorea alata – also called ube, ubi, uwhi, purple yam, or greater yam, among many other names – is a species of yam. The tubers are usually a vivid violet-purple to bright lavender, but some range from creamy-white to plain white. It is sometimes confused with taro and the Okinawa sweet potato beniimo (紅芋), however D. alata is also grown in Okinawa. Its origins are in the Asian and Oceanian tropics. Some varieties attain to great size. A "Mambatap" greater yam grown in Maprik, East Sepik District, Papua New Guinea around 1939 was 3.5 m (11 ft) in length.

Medicinal uses

T Traditional Use

Not medical advice

Authoritative scientific evidence is not available for this herb. The information below reflects traditional or ethnobotanical uses documented in public sources. Do not use as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Consult a qualified healthcare provider before use — especially if you are pregnant, nursing, or taking medication.

No structured medicinal summary is currently available for this herb in our public-source corpus. Traditional uses, if documented, would be referenced here in a future update.