The yam family, Dioscoreaceae, comprise ca. 600 species, distributed primarily in the tropics, with temperate outliers in Europe, North America, and Asia. In the West Indies the family is represented by two genera, Dioscorea L.(13 spp. in the Antilles), and Rajania L. (ca. 30 spp.). The latter genus is entirely endemic to the West Indies, with species in the Greater Antilles, Lesser Antilles, and the Bahamas. The two genera have classically been distinguished by their fruit morphology. Rajania fruits are samaras that bear a single unwinged seed, while Dioscorea fruits are trilocular capsules bearing six winged seeds. Recent phylogenetic studies by Caddick et al. (1999) indicate that Rajania is nested within the large genus Dioscorea. However, the affinities of Rajania to other New World Dioscorea species have yet to be discovered. The species of Dioscorea in the West Indies appear to be more closely related to South American dioscoreas than they are to Rajania, although the latter genus is very poorly known. New information about Rajania obtained from 1) field and herbarium studies in Cuba, 2) examination of type specimens, and 3) preliminary studies of pollen morphology, is presented and some species concepts are reinterpreted. Phylogenetic analyses of nuclear and chloroplast DNA sequence data are in progress and implications for taxonomy and biogeography are discussed.