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Tetragonia tetragonoides

Common name:	New Zealand Spinach	Family:	Aizoaceae
Author:	(Pall.)Kuntze.	Botanical references:	44, 200
Synonyms:	Tetragonia expansa (Murray.)
Known Hazards:	None known
Range:	Australia to New Zealand.
Habitat:	Coastal sand dunes and stony beaches on North South and Stewart Islands of New Zealand[44]. Sheltered beaches, salt marshes and arid plains in Australia[193].
Edibility Rating (1-5):	3	Medicinal Rating (1-5):	0

Other Possible Synonyms:	From various places across the web, may not be correct. See below.
	Demidovia tetragonoides[G] T. tetragonioides[B,C,CAL,E,H,P]
Other Common Names:	From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below.
	New Zealand Spinach [H,P], New Zealand-spinach [B], Turu-Na [E],
Systematics:	From a USDA Plants Database
	Order: Caryophyllales. Fig-marigold family
Other Range Info:	From the Ethnobotany Database
	China; Japan

Physical Characteristics

An evergreen perennial growing to 0.2m by 1m at a fast rate. It is hardy to zone 9 and is frost tender. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs). We rate it 3/5 for edibility and 0/5 for medicinal use.

The plant prefers light (sandy) and medium (loamy) soils and requires well-drained soil. The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils and can grow in saline soil. It cannot grow in the shade. It requires dry or moist soil and can tolerate drought. The plant can tolerate maritime exposure.

Habitats and Possible Locations

Cultivated Beds.

Edible Uses

Leaves.

Leaves - raw or cooked. A spinach substitute[183], the shoot tips are harvested when about 8cm long, this encourages plenty of side growth with lots more shoots to harvest[264]. A delicious substitute for spinach, the very young leaves and shoots can also be eaten raw in salads[193, 264]. The young leaves are best, older leaves developing an acrid taste.

Medicinal Uses

Disclaimer

None known

Other Uses

None known

Cultivation details

Easily grown in the garden[193], it prefers a light soil in a sunny position[16, 37] and thrives in dry soils[33]. It grows best in a good rich soil[1]. Once established, the plants tolerate drought[200]. Plants are very tolerant of hot, dry conditions but cannot tolerate frost[200]. Although very drought tolerant, the plants produce a better quality crop if they are given some water in dry weather[264].
New Zealand spinach is occasionally cultivated in gardens for its edible leaves, it is an excellent spinach substitute for hot dry weather conditions[183]. A perennial plant in its native habitat, but it is usually killed by the cold in British winters and so is grown as an annual[264]. In the Tropics it is occasionally cultivated in the cool season as a spinach[264].

Propagation

Seed - sow early to mid spring in a greenhouse. When they are large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and plant them out after the last expected frost[33].
Seed can also be sown in situ in late spring, though this will not generally make such good plants[33, K].
The seed can be slow to germinate, soaking in warm water for 24 hours prior to sowing may help[33, 200].

Suppliers

For more details of plant suppliers please see our Suppliers Page which lists many more places to look.

Web References

[E] Ethnobotany Data (common names, uses, countries) from the Ethnobotany Database.
[G] Data (Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.
[HP] Links, Photos, Suppliers from Hortiplex Plant Database

References for Tetragonia expansa (a possible synonym).

[H] Details of Scandanavian and European Common names in Henriette's names database
[E] Ethnobotany Data (common names, uses, countries) from the Ethnobotany Database.

References for Tetragonia tetragonioides (a possible synonym).

[H] Details of Scandanavian and European Common names in Henriette's names database
[E] Ethnobotany Data (common names, uses, countries) from the Ethnobotany Database.
[B] Data (Latin & Common names, other references) from the BONAP's Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
[PHARM] Phytochemical Data (common names, uses, countries) from Dr Duke's Phytochemical Database.
[C] Taxon data. from the CalFlora database.
[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.

References for the family Aizoaceae.

[CHINA] Draft Data Very detailed botanical/identification info. from the Flora of China.

See the PFAF Links Pages for other sources.

Also try Photos and info from the The Plants Database which has 14,000 images.

References

[K] Ken Fern
Notes from observations, tasting etc at Plants For A Future and on field trips.

[1] F. Chittendon. RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 Oxford University Press 1951
Comprehensive listing of species and how to grow them. Somewhat outdated, it has been replaces in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [200]).

[16] Simons. New Vegetable Growers Handbook. Penguin 1977 ISBN 0-14-046-050-0
A good guide to growing vegetables in temperate areas, not entirely organic.

[33] Organ. J. Rare Vegetables for Garden and Table. Faber 1960
Unusual vegetables that can be grown outdoors in Britain. A good guide.

[37] Thompson. B. The Gardener's Assistant. Blackie and Son. 1878
Excellent general but extensive guide to gardening practices in the 19th century. A very good section on fruits and vegetables with many little known species.

[44] Allan. H. H. Flora of New Zealand. Government Printer, Wellington. 1961
The standard work, in 3 volumes though only the first two are of interest to the plant project. Very good on habitats.

[183] Facciola. S. Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. Kampong Publications 1990 ISBN 0-9628087-0-9
Excellent. Contains a very wide range of conventional and unconventional food plants (including tropical) and where they can be obtained (mainly N. American nurseries but also research institutes and a lot of other nurseries from around the world.

[193] Low. T. Wild Food Plants of Australia. Angus and Robertson. 1989 ISBN 0-207-14383-8
Well presented, clear information and good photographs. An interesting read for the casual reader as well as the enthusiast

[200] Huxley. A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. MacMillan Press 1992 ISBN 0-333-47494-5
Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.

[264] Phillips. R. & Rix. M. Vegetables Macmillan Reference Books, London. 1995 ISBN 0 333 62640 0
Excellent and easily read book with good information and an excellent collection of photos of vegetables from around the world, including many unusual species.

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Bibliography

Plant information taken from the Plants For A Future - Species Database. Copyright (c) 1997-2003.
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