Air potato, an amazing herb for goiter and tumor

What is air potato(Dioscorea Bulbifera, Huang Yao Zi)?
Medicinally it means the tubers of Dioscorea bulbifera L., a vine plant of Asian or African origin in the family Dioscoreaceae, or true yam family. However, in many tropical areas it is in the list of invasive species and considered an unwelcome weed. Hence, other names of it are Dioscorea Bulbifera Tuber, Tuber Dioscoreae, Rhizoma Dioscoreae Bulbiferae, Airpotato Yam Rhizome, dioscoreae rhizoma, Dioscoreae bulbiferae Rhizoma, dioscorea yam, dioscorea root, radix dioscoreae, etc. In China it is mainly produced in Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu and other places. In terms of medicinal properties, the one harvested during autumn and winter is usually considered preferred. After the harvest, remove its leaves and fibrous roots, wash clean, slice, dry in the sun, and use it raw.

This is one of the most recognizable herbaceous perennial twining vines because of the obvious aerial bulbs. Tubers are solitary, spherical or conical, 3 to 10cm in diameter, and with dark black skin and dense fibrous roots. Stems are cylindrical, up to several meters long, green or purple, and glabrous. Inside the leaf axils there are spherical or ovoid bulbils that are purple brown. Air potato leaf is alternative. Ovate blade is wide heart-shaped, 7 to 22cm long and 7 to 8cm wide, and with caudate apex, broadly cordate base and entire margin. Flowers are unisexual and dioecious. Many small flowers, yellow and white and axillary, form the spica. Capsule is drooping, oblong, and with 3 membranous wings. The flowering period is from August to September and fruit period is from September to October. Main habitats are valley, river bank, roadsides or forest edges.

Air potato benefits
As mentioned above, Sun Simiao ever created an effective air-potato recipe for the treatment of goiter and tumor. Later, he disclosed it in his medical book. Actually this prescription and directions are quite simple. Firstly, soak 500 grams of air potato yam into 1000 ml of the rice liquor, seal the bottle, heat it for a while, and serve after it cools down. In recent years, there were clinical reports that this soaked wine was ever used for the treatments of 7 cases of thyroid adenoma, 2 cases of thyroid cancer, and 4 cases of other thyroid enlargement. Among them, 3 were ineffective but the rest cases gradually vanished by more than 50%, namely the diameter of neck reduced by up to 25%. What’s more, 6 cases eliminated the symptoms and signs by 80% or even 100%. This shows that the dioscorea bulbifera wine does live up to its fame.