Table 3 Sheko and Bench intermediate folk categories of yams at the sub-generic level
Folk basis | Categories | Folk labels/names | Characteristics of each category as described by local farmers | No. of varieties and sub-varieties in each category |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Context | Wild | Karka-ama or Balakay-Oake | None-edible tuber | 1 (0) |
Karka-Kachi, Shay-boy, or Karckabat | Very spiny vines and roots, vigorous, late maturing, flowering, seed producing, and tubers are thin elongated and bitter in taste. | 3 (3) | ||
Wild transplant | Karka-Kachi, Yasind | Is very similar with wild yam, but its tuber tends to change to fat and tasty over the course of years of cultivation | 2 (5) | |
Cultivated | Recent transplants (I) + longtime variety (II) | |||
I | Kaibab-Kachi | Medium to high spines on vine and roots, medium-sized light green leave, vigorous. Broad and tasty tuber. | 4 (4) | |
II | Kachi/Boyye | Few to medium spines on vine and tuber, medium-sized dark leaves, early maturing and flowering | 22 (6) | |
Baday-kachi | Non-woody, spineless and large sized green leaves. Early maturing and not flowering | 4 (1) | ||
Ama/Oakea | Edible tuber | 1 (2) | ||
Gender | Female | Kachi/Baday-kachi, Ama/Oakea | Early maturing, less vigorous, double harvest, susceptible to stress, tasty tuber | 24 (7) |
Male | Karka-Kachi, Shay-boy, Yasind, Kaibab-kachi | Late maturing, single harvest, vigorous, stress tolerant, bitter taste tuber | 9 (12) | |