Dioscorea elephantipes – Hottentot Bread – Plants

Dioscorea elephantipes (Testudinaria elephantipes), commonly known as Hottentot Bread or Elephant’s Foot. A nice caudex type plant that forms a wooden bulb over time. These plants can get extremely old and the wooden bulb can reach diameters of almost 1 meter.

The plant grows fine in regular Succulent soil. Plant the bulb 0,5 – 1 cm deep in the soil. Give it some shade (we grow these on the lower shelves in the greenhouse). It needs good watering when the plant is actively growing and showing leaves. This is usually in spring and autumn. Reduce waterings when the plant has dropped her leaves. Dioscorea elephantipes tends to drop her leaves in the dry hot summer months and in winter. Do not worry if the leaf stem breaks. It can form a new one.