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Tetragonia tetragonoides
Also called Warrigal Cabbage, Wild Spinach, Common Tetragonia, Kōkihi, Native Spinach, Warrigal Greens
New Zealand spinach is a sprawling, salt-tolerant leafy green from coastal Asia, Australia and New Zealand, grown for its edible leaves that cook like spinach. It thrives in hot weather and acts as an annual or short-lived perennial.
Tetragonia tetragonioides, commonly called New Zealand spinach, warrigal greens or by its Māori name of Kōkihi, is a flowering plant in the fig-marigold family (Aizoaceae). It is often cultivated as a leafy vegetable.
It is a widespread species, native to eastern Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. It has been introduced and is an invasive species in many parts of Africa, Europe, North America, and South America. Its natural habitat is sandy shorelines and bluffs, often in disturbed areas. It is a halophyte and grows well in saline ground.
It is grown for the edible leaves, and can be used as food or an ornamental plant for ground cover. It can be an annual or perennial. As some of its names signify, it has similar flavour and texture properties to spinach, and is cooked like spinach. Like spinach, it contains oxalates; its medium to low levels of oxalates need to be removed by blanching the leaves in hot water for one minute, then rinsing in cold water before cooking. It thrives in hot weather, and is considered an heirloom vegetable. Few insects consume it, and even slugs and snails do not seem to feed on it.
The thick, irregularly-shaped seeds should be planted just after the last spring frost. Before planting, the seeds should be soaked for 12 hours in cold water, or 3 hours in warm water. Seeds should be planted 5–10 mm (0.2–0.4 in) deep, and spaced 15–30 cm (5.9–11.8 in) apart. The seedlings will emerge in 10–20 days, and it will continue to produce greens through the summer. Mature plant will self-seed. Seeds will overwinter up to USDA zone 5.
When consumed after boiling, New Zealand spinach is 95% water, 2% carbohydrates, 1% protein, and contains negligible fat (table). In a reference amount of 100 g (3.5 oz), the spinach supplies 12 calories and is particularly rich in vitamin K, providing 243% of the Daily Value (DV). It also contains appreciable amounts of vitamin B6, vitamin C, and manganese (14–23% DV) (table).
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Tetragonia tetragonioides by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
