Alicia's Flower Manual

Basella alba, or Malabar spinach (also Phooi leaf, Red vine spinach, Creeping spinach, Climbing spinach) is a perennial vine found in the tropics where it is widely used as a leaf vegetable.
Basella alba is a fast-growing, soft-stemmed vine, reaching 10 m in length. Its thick, semi-succulent, heart-shaped leaves have a mild flavour and mucilaginous texture. The stem of the cultivar Basella alba ‘Rubra’ is reddish-purple.
Basella alba grows well under full sunlight in hot, humid climates and in areas lower than 500 m above sea level. Growth is slow in low temperatures resulting in low yields. Flowering is induced during the short-day months of November to February. It grows best in sandy loam soils rich in organic matter with pH ranging from 5.5 to 8.0.

Food uses
Typical of leaf vegetables, Malabar spinach is high in vitamin A, vitamin C, iron, and calcium. It is low in calories by volume, but high in protein per calorie. The succulent mucilage is a particularly rich source of soluble fiber. Among many other possibilities, Malabar spinach may be used to thicken soups or stir-fries with garlic and chili peppers.

In Bangladesh it is widely used to cook with Hilsa fish.
The vegetable is used in Chinese cuisine. Its many names include flowing water vegetable.
In Vietnam, particularly the north, it is cooked with crab meat, luffa and jute to make soup.
In Orissa, India, it is used to make Curries and Saaga (Any type of dish made from green leafy vegetables is called as Saaga in Orissa). In Maharashtra, India, it is used to make bhaji.
In Africa, the mucilaginous cooked shoots are most commonly used.
Malabar spinach can be found at many Chinese/Vietnamese/Korean/Indian grocery stores, as well as farmers’ markets.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malabar_spinach

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Ipomoea aquatica is a semi-aquatic tropical plant grown as a leaf vegetable. It is known in English as Water Spinach, Water Morning Glory, Water Convolvulus, or by the more ambiguous names “Chinese spinach” and “swamp cabbage”. It has many other names in other languages. It is found throughout the tropical and subtropical regions of the world; it is not known exactly where it originated.

Ipomoea aquatica grows in water or on moist soil. Its stems are 2–3 metres (7–10 ft) or more long, rooting at the nodes, and they are hollow and can float. The leaves vary from typically sagittate (arrow-head-shaped) to lanceolate, 5–15 centimetres (2–6 in) long and 2–8 centimetres (0.8–3 in) broad. The flowers are trumpet-shaped, 3–5 centimetres (1–2 in) diameter, usually white in colour with a mauve centre.

Cultivation and culinary uses
Ipomoea aquatica is most commonly grown in East and Southeast Asia. Because it flourishes naturally in waterways and requires little if any care, it is used extensively in Malay and Chinese cuisine, especially in rural or kampung (village) areas.

It has also been introduced to the United States where its high growth rate has caused it to become an environmental problem, especially in Florida and Texas. It has been officially designated by the USDA as a “noxious weed” (the term “noxious” refers to its effect on the environment, not to any toxicity)

The vegetable is a common ingredient in Southeast Asian dishes. In Singapore, Indonesia and Penang, the leaves are usually stir fried with chile pepper, garlic, ginger, dried shrimp paste (belacan/terasi) and other spices. In Penang and Ipoh, it is cooked with cuttlefish and a sweet and spicy sauce. During the Japanese Occupation of Singapore in World War II, the vegetable grew remarkably well and easily in many areas, and become a popular wartime crop.

In Chinese cuisine (traditional and simplified Chinese: 空心菜) there are numerous ways of preparation, but a simple and quick stir-fry either plain or with minced garlic is probably the most common. In Cantonese cuisine, a popular variation adds preserved tofu (furu, Mandarin). In Hakka cuisine, yellow bean paste[clarification needed] is added, sometimes along with fried shallots. The vegetable is also extremely popular in Taiwan, where it grows well.

In Thailand, where it is called phak bung (Thai: ผักบุ้ง), and in Burma, where it is called ga zun ywet, it is frequently stir-fried with oyster sauce or yellow soybean paste, and garlic and chillies. It can also be eaten raw, for instance with green papaya salad. There is concern that when eaten raw, the plant may transmit Fasciolopsis buski an intestinal fluke parasite of humans and pigs causing fasciolopsiasis.

In Vietnam, ipomoea aquatica (known as rau muống) once served as a staple vegetable of the poor. In the south, the stems are julienned into thin strips and eaten with many kinds of noodles. It is used as a garnish as well. Ipomoea aquatica has become a common ingredient of Vietnamese cuisine.

In the Philippines, Ipomoea aquatica is usually sauteed in cooking oil, onions, garlic, vinegar, and soy sauce. This dish is called “adobong kangkong”. It is also a common leaf vegetable in fish and meat stews like sinigang. There is also an appetizer in the Philippines called “crispy kangkong”, in which Ipomoea aquatica leaves are coated with batter and fried until crisp and golden brown. It is also cook as Adobo.

In South India the leaves are finely chopped and mixed with grated coconut in order to prepare Thoran (തോരന്‍), a Kerala cuisine dish.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ipomoea_aquatica

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Chenopodium is a genus of about 150  species of perennial or annual herbaceous flowering plants known as the goosefoots, which occur almost anywhere in the world. It is placed in the family Amaranthaceae in the APG II system; older classifications separate it and its relatives as Chenopodiaceae but this leaves the rest of the Amaranthaceae polyphyletic. However, among the Amaranthaceae the genus Chenopodium is the namesake member of the subfamily Chenopodioideae. The genus Dysphania is closely related and contains several species formerly placed in Chenopodium, such as epazote (D. ambrosioides).

In Australia, the larger Chenopodium species are among the plants called “bluebushes”. Chualar in California is named after a Native American term for a goosefoot abundant in the region, probably the California Goosefoot (C. californicum).

Uses and ecology
The genus Chenopodium contains several plants of minor to moderate importance as food crops as leaf vegetables – used like the closely related Spinach (Spinacia oleracea) and like similar plants called quelite in Mexico – and pseudocereals. These include White Goosefoot (C. album), Good King Henry (C. bonus-henricus), Strawberry Blite (C. capitatum), Leafy Goosefoot (C. foliosum), Kañiwa (C. pallidicaule) and Quinoa (C. quinoa). As studied by Kristen Gremillion and others, goosefoots have a history of culinary use dating back to 4000 BC or earlier, when Pitseed Goosefoot (C. berlandieri) was a staple crop in the Native American Eastern Agricultural Complex and White Goosefoot was apparently used by the Ertebølle culture of Europe.

There is increased interest in particular in goosefoot seeds today, which are suitable as part of a gluten-free diet. Quinoa oil, extracted from the seeds of C. quinoa, has similar properties but is superior in quality to corn oil. “Oil of chenopodium” is extracted from the seeds of Epazote, which is not in this genus anymore. Shagreen leather was produced in former times using the small hard goosefoot seeds. C. album was one of the main model organisms for the molecular biological study of chlorophyllase.

Goosefoot pollen, in particular of the widespread and usually abundant C. album, is an allergen to many people and a common cause of hay fever. The same species as well as some others have seeds which are able to persist for years in the soil seed bank. Many goosefoot species are thus significant weeds, and some have become invasive species.

Certain species grow in large thickets, providing cover for small animals. Goosefoot foliage is used as food by the caterpillar of certain Lepidoptera; see list of Lepidoptera that feed on Chenopodium. The seeds are eaten by many birds, such as the Yellowhammer (Emberiza citrinella) of Europe or the White-winged Fairy-wren (Malurus leucopterus) of Australia. Goosefoot pathogens include the Positive-sense ssRNA viruses Apple stem grooving virus, Sowbane mosaic virus and Tobacco necrosis virus.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chenopodium

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