AN alkaloid, dioscorine, has been isolated from various species of yam of the family Dioscoreaceae. Pinder1 has summarized the history of this, confirmed its molecular formula as C13H19O2N and has documented certain of its chemical and physical properties2. A similar alkaloid has been extracted from a further species common in the wild state in Nigeria and identified by its botanical characteristics and typically small starch grains as Dioscorea dumetorum (Yoruba name, esuru3).