《中国植物志》|| 薯蓣科 DIOSCOREACEAE ||根状茎组 Sect. Stenophora Uline ||盾叶薯蓣 Dioscorea zingiberensis C. H. Wright

4. 盾叶薯蓣 (中国药用植物志）黄姜、火头根（四川、湖北）图版16: 1-5
Dioscorea zingiberensis C. H. Wright in Journ. Linn. Soc. Bot. 36: 93. 1903; Prain et Burkill. in Journ. Asiat. Soc. Bengal n. s. 10: 17. 1914; R. Knuth in Engl. Pflanzenr. 87 (4-43): 177. 1924; 裴鉴等, 中国药用植物志 7: 313. 1964; 中国高等植物周鉴 5: 557,图 7944. 1976. ——D. henryi Uline ex Diels in Bot. Jahrb. 29: 261. 1900. (nom. Dud.)
缠绕草质藤本。根状茎横生，近圆柱形，指状或不规则分枝，新鲜时外皮棕褐色，断面黄色，干后除去须根常留有白色点状痕迹。茎左旋，光滑无毛，有时在分枝或叶柄基部两侧微突起或有刺。单叶互生；叶片厚纸质，三角状卵形、心形或箭形，通常3浅裂至3深裂，中间裂片三角状卵形或披针形，两侧裂片圆耳状或长圆形，两面光滑无毛，表面绿色，常有不规则斑块，干时呈灰褐色；叶柄盾状着生。花单性，雌雄异株或同株。雄花无梗，常2-3朵簇生，再排列成穗状，花序单一或分枝，1或2-3个簇生叶腋，通常每簇花仅1-2朵发育，基部常有膜质苞片3-4枚；花被片6，长1.2-1.5毫米，宽0.8-1毫米，开放时平展，紫红色，干后黑色；雄蕊6枚，着生于花托的边缘，花丝极短，与花药几等长。雌花序与雄花序几相似；雌花具花丝状退化雄蕊。蒴果三棱形，每棱翅状，长1.2-2厘米，宽1-1.5厘米，干后蓝黑色，表面常有白粉；种子通常每室2枚，着生于中轴中部，四周围有薄膜状翅。花期5-8月，果期9-10月。
分布于河南南部、湖北、湖南、陕西秦岭以南、甘肃天水、四川。生于海拔100-1500 米，多生长在破坏过的杂木林间或森林、沟谷边缘的路旁，常见于腐殖质深厚的土层中，有时也见于石隙中，平地和高山都有生长。模式标本采自湖北宜昌。
根状茎含薯蓣皂苷元较高，是合成甾体激素药物的重要原料；湖北民间取根状茎捣碎后用来毒鱼，有较好的效果。

《Flora of China》|| Dioscoreaceae || Dioscorea ||盾叶薯蓣 Dioscorea zingiberensis

4. Dioscorea zingiberensis C. H. Wright, J. Linn. Soc., Bot. 36: 93. 1903.

盾叶薯蓣 dun ye shu yu

Plants sometimes monoecious. Rhizome horizontal, sometimes irregularly branched, subcylindric, 1--1.5 cm thick; cork dull brown, rough; transverse section yellow. Stem twining to left, glabrous, smooth. Leaves alternate, simple; petiole 2.5--6 cm; leaf blade adaxially green, often irregularly spotted, drying dark grayish brown, narrowly peltate, triangular-ovate, usually ± 3-lobed by enlargement of basal lobes, 4.5--10 × 4--8.5 cm, papery, glabrous, base cordate with broadly rounded sinus, apex rounded and cuspidate to acuminate; lateral lobes reflexed, rounded. Male spikes solitary or 2 or 3 together, 5--10 cm, very slender, often borne along specialized, paniclelike, lateral shoots with reduced leaves. Male flowers: solitary or in cymules of 2 or 3, sessile; bracts 3 or 4, brown, membranous; perianth purplish red, drying black, lobes spreading at anthesis, 1.2--1.5 × 0.8--1 mm; stamens 6, inserted at margin of receptacle, filaments extremely short. Female spike to 8 cm. Female flowers: staminodes filiform. Capsule reflexed, long pedicellate, drying blue black, obovoid, 1.4--2 cm, about as long as wide, pruinose, base ± truncate, apex emarginate; wings 0.8--1.2 cm wide. Seeds inserted near middle of capsule, winged all round. Fl. May--Aug, fr. Sep--Oct.

* Mixed forests; 100--1800 m. Gansu, S Henan, Hubei, Hunan, S Shaanxi (S of Qin Ling), Sichuan, Yunnan.

The rhizome is an extremely important source of diosgenin for the drug industry. It is also an important traditional medicine.