These four different greens are not true spinach! But they are edible leafy greens consumed raw or cooked.
- Okinawa spinach, botanically classified as Gynura bicolor, belonging to the Asteraceae family, native to SE Asia, but somehow named after Okinawa as people started foraging the in the wild. Okinawa spinach is known by several regional names, including Hadama, Surizenjigusa, Kinjisou, and Padama in Japan, Sambung Nyawa Ungu in Malaysia, and Hong Tsoi and Hong Feng Cai (红凤菜）in Chinese speaking regions. The species is also called Edible Gynura and Okinawa Lettuce in English. There are two cultivas, biocolor and green, sometimes, they are also referred to as longivity spinach.
- Molohayia, Jute mallow, or Eygepitian spinach, two cultivas, one with tinge of red on its stem sourced from Eygptician friend, another just green sterm sourced from Haitian friend. Molohayia is considered extremely nutritious and regarded as “food of kings” dating back to the time of the pharaohs, when an Egyptian king drank it in soup to recover from an illness. This vegetable is also known as, Malu Khia, Melokheya, Meloukia, Salad Mallow, Jew’s mallow, West African sorrel ! and it is also known as koshta in India, tororo no in Japan, saluyot in the Philippines, po krachao in Thailand and rau day in Vietnam.
- Malabar spinach, Basella alba is a tripical perennial vine in the family Basellaceae. It is native to Indian subcontinent, SE Asian and New Guinea and naturalized elsewhere. It is also known by common names including Malabar spinach, vine spinach, Ceylon spinach, alugbati and Indian spinach. It has thick, semi-succulent, heart-shaped leaves with a mild flavour and mucilaginous texture. It is widely appreciated in most Asian culinary cultures.
- Water Spinach, Ipomoea aquatica grows in water or on moist soil. It is a long, leafy green vegetable with hollow stems that grows in water or damp soil. generally believed to be native to SE Asia. It is also known as river spinach, water morning glory, water convolvulus, or by the more ambiguous names Chinese spinach, Chinese watercress, Chinese convolvulus or swamp cabbage. In Thailand it is called pak boong (ผักบุ้ง). It is known as kōngxīncài (空心菜) in Mandarin, ong choy (蕹菜) in Cantonese and in Hawaii, and tung choi (通菜) in modern Cantonese.
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