Native to eastern North America, wild yam habitat spans from the southern Provence of Ontario, Canada to Florida and from the Great Plains to Rhode Island. Bitter to taste, wild yam is not consumed as food but is widely used for its beneficial properties. Dioscorea villosa is a twisting, climbing vine with heart-shaped, deeply veined leaves and long, tuberous rhizomes. A perennial and dioecious member of the Dioscoreaceae family, wild yam likes to grow in damp, sandy soils along the borders of woodlands and thickets.