WARRIGAL GREENS/ SEA SPINACH (Tetragonia tetragonioides) Seeds
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Aalso known as Botany Bay spinach, Cook's cabbage, kōkihi (in Māori), sea spinach, and tetragon. Its Australian names of warrigal greens and warrigal cabbage.
Tetragonia tetragonioides is found scattered throughout Australia.
It is a prostrate, sprawling plant with soft stems and foliage and can spread to around 2 metres. The small, greenish yellow flowers appear at the leaf bases throughout most of the year.
The plant is easily grown in moist, reasonably drained soils in sun or partial shade. It is, however, short lived and needs to be regularly propagated, although under suitable conditions the plant will self-seed and new plants will regularly appear in other parts of the garden to where the original plant was located.
Few insects consume it, and even slugs and snails do not seem to feed on it.
Bush food: Has similar flavour and texture properties to spinach, and is cooked like spinach. The species, rarely used by indigenous people as a leaf vegetable, was first mentioned by Captain Cook. It was immediately picked, cooked, and pickled to help fight scurvy, and taken with the crew of the Endeavour.
Although edible, the leaves contain a high level of oxalic acid which must be leached out by blanching before eating. This can be done by plunging the leaves into boiling water for a 3-4 minutes and then draining. The water should be discarded.
Germination: 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.
The seedlings will emerge in 10–20 days, and it will continue to produce greens through the summer. Mature plant will self-seed.
Tetragonia tetragonioides is found scattered throughout Australia.
It is a prostrate, sprawling plant with soft stems and foliage and can spread to around 2 metres. The small, greenish yellow flowers appear at the leaf bases throughout most of the year.
The plant is easily grown in moist, reasonably drained soils in sun or partial shade. It is, however, short lived and needs to be regularly propagated, although under suitable conditions the plant will self-seed and new plants will regularly appear in other parts of the garden to where the original plant was located.
Few insects consume it, and even slugs and snails do not seem to feed on it.
Bush food: Has similar flavour and texture properties to spinach, and is cooked like spinach. The species, rarely used by indigenous people as a leaf vegetable, was first mentioned by Captain Cook. It was immediately picked, cooked, and pickled to help fight scurvy, and taken with the crew of the Endeavour.
Although edible, the leaves contain a high level of oxalic acid which must be leached out by blanching before eating. This can be done by plunging the leaves into boiling water for a 3-4 minutes and then draining. The water should be discarded.
Germination: 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.
The seedlings will emerge in 10–20 days, and it will continue to produce greens through the summer. Mature plant will self-seed.
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