It is native to southern and eastern Asia (China, India, Indochina, Indonesia, Philippines, etc.)

It is widely cultivated as a food crop and naturalized in Cuba and on several island chains in the Pacific (including Hawaii).

[1][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] Dioscorea pentaphylla is a prickly vine that twines counterclockwise around objects and other plants.

The alternately arranged leaves are compound, divided into 3 to 5 leaflets each up to 10 centimeters long.

The plant produces horseshoe-shaped bulbils about a centimeter long.