Dioscoreales

Dioscoreales is an order of monocotyledonous flowering plants comprising three families, 22 genera, and roughly 850 species, forming a sister group to Pandanales within the lilioid monocots. Its principal family, Dioscoreaceae, includes the yams and various bulbous or tuberous plants that serve as important food staples in many regions; Dioscorea elephantipes, commonly known as the elephant foot yam, is a notable example adapted to arid conditions in Southern Africa as a caudex-forming perennial. Combined morphological and molecular analysis has substantially reorganized membership of the order, drawing in reticulate-veined vine families once grouped separately.