column was Last week’s From the Garden the first of four discussing green salad crops that can be grown and thrive during the summer months. Each of these vegetables can be grown in our growing area and may complement a summer garden. Gardeners who like to experiment with unusual crops may want to try one or more of these greens.
The first of the four was New Zealand spinach, Tetragonia tetragonioides, in the botanic family Aizoaceae. This week’s column presents Malabar spinach, Basella alba, a member of the botanic family Basellaceae. While both New Zealand spinach and Malabar spinach have the common name ‘spinach’, both are members of distinctly different botanic families, and neither are related to the true ‘spinach’, which is a member of the Chenopodiaceae family.
Enough of scientific names? It is important to recognize that the three crops are distinctly different, even though the three are known by the common name ‘spinach’. That is why scientific names are important. But enough of taxonomy, let’s talk about Malabar spinach.
Basella alba is a perennial tropical plant, native to the Malabar region of India, the southwestern edge of the Indian peninsula facing the Arabian Sea. Other common names by which it is known reflect its provenance—Malabar spinach, Indian spinach, and Ceylon spinach; and Climbing spinach and Creeping spinach for its growth habit.
Malabar spinach is a showy edible ornamental vine. It develops into a striking, beautiful vine that is on full display when trained to a trellis or fence. It needs plenty of growing room as the vines will grow to 10 feet in length and up to 3 feet in width.
The foliage of Malabar spinach is most stunning in late summer and into the autumn when deep magenta-colored berries form and nestle into the red stems and dark green glossy, heart-shaped foliage. It is one of the few summer greens that seems unaffected by high temperatures. Place it in full sun for the deepest purple foliage and berries.
The leaves have a mucilaginous, okra-like texture that turns off some folk; leaves can be eaten raw or prepared as a potherb. Malabar spinach is similar in taste to the cool season vegetable spinach, which may be why it has been given the common name Malabar spinach.
Ellen Peffley Harp, a retired professor of horticulture at Texas Tech University, writes about gardening for several Texas newspapers.
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