Dioscorea pumilio, a dwarf species, was originally described by Grisebach in 1875 based on staminate material only, which was obtained from a few flowered and floral bud collection made by A. Glaziou. The diagnosis and the drawings with the author's handwriting in the exsiccates deposited at the Göttingen Herbarium (GOET), and the isotypes at the Herbaria of Paris (P), Copenhagen (C) and Berlin (B), are enough to elucidate the identity of the species. Two synonyms of Dioscorea pumilio, D. beyrichii and D. sphaeroidea, are proposed here. All three names were based upon type materials collected at the same site of the “Parque Nacional da Serra dos Órgãos”, Brazil. A brief comment about the systematic implications is also included.