Elephant's Foot

Elephant's Foot, or HOTTENTOT'S BREAD (Tamus or Testudinaria elephantipes), a plant of the yam order (Dioscoreaceæ), of which the root-stock forms a large fleshy mass, curiously truncate, or somewhat resembling an elephant's foot, and covered with a soft, corky, rough, and cracked bark, recalling the shell of a tortoise, whence its other name. From this springs annually a climbing stem, which bears the leaves and flowers. The starchy root-stock is used as food by the Hottentots. The plant is not unfrequent in hothouses. A few species are North American.