Say it: dy-oss-KOR-ee-uh el-eh-fan-TY-peez. Common names: elephant's foot, Hottentot bread, turtle back.
Where it grows
The dry Karoo of South Africa's Western and Eastern Cape, in winter-rainfall country.
Size and growth
A yam relative that forms a woody, dome-shaped caudex covered in corky plates like a turtle shell. From the top grows a twining annual vine with heart-shaped leaves. Caudices reach a foot or more across in a few decades; seedlings form a marble-sized caudex in their first year and grow steadily after that.
The growing cycle
This is the key: it's a winter grower. The vine sprouts in fall, grows through winter and spring, then yellows and dies back in late spring. The caudex rests through summer. New growers often panic when the vine dies in May; it's supposed to.
Flowers
Tiny yellow-green flowers on the vine, with male and female on separate plants. Rarely the reason anyone grows it.
Care
- Light: bright light for the vine, with the caudex itself shaded or partly buried while young.
- Water: regular while the vine is growing (fall to spring), almost none while dormant.
- Soil: gritty, fast-draining.
- Cold: keep above about 40°F.
From seed
Easy, germinating in 2–4 weeks, best sown in fall. Keep seedlings growing year-round for the first year or two before letting them follow the adult cycle.