WorldFloraDB - Spinacia oleracea

Characteristics

Plants to 1 m tall. Root reddish, rarely white, conic. Stem simple or few branched, hollow. Leaf blade light green, hastate to ovate, slightly succulent, margin entire or with a few lobelike teeth. Male flowers: perianth segments usually 4; filaments filiform, flattened; anthers without an appendage. Fruiting bracts slightly compressed, with a thornlike appendage on each side, apex with 2 teeth; stigmas exserted. Utricle ovoid or subglobose, compressed, ca. 2.5 mm in diam.; pericarp brown.

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An annual leafy vegetable. It grows 60-90 cm high and spreads 30-45 cm wide. The broad leaves are produced in a clump on short stalks. The leaves at the base are large and leaves on the stalk are smaller. Plants are separately male and female. (So both types are needed if seed is to be produced.) Flowers are greenish in spikes.

Stems leafy, 1-5(-10) dm. Leaves gradually becoming smaller distally; blade oblong, base cuneate. Bracteoles orbicular-obovate, usually wider than long, apex with divergent spine or smooth. 2n = 12.

Life form

annual

Growth form

herb

Growth support

free-standing

Foliage retention

deciduous

Sexuality

dioecy

Pollination

anemogamy

Spread

barochory

Mature width (meter)

0.3 - 0.5

Mature height (meter)

0.3 - 0.55

Root system

fibrous-root tap-root

Rooting depth (meter)

0.5

Root diameter (meter)

-

Flower color

Blooming months

Jan	Feb	Mar
Apr	May	Jun
Jul	Aug	Sep
Oct	Nov	Dec

Fruit color

-

Fruiting months

-

Nitrogen fixer

-

Photosynthetic pathway

c3

Environment

It is a temperate plant. It does not suit the tropical lowlands and grows best where the temperature varies between 10°C and 20°C or above 2000 m altitude. The kind with very prickly seeds is frost resistant. Plants need a deep well drained soil. It is a cool season, short day plant. In Nepal it grows to about 1400 m altitude. It suits hardiness zones 6-9.

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Not known in the wild.

Light
Soil humidity
Soil texture
Soil acidity
Soil nutriment
Hardiness (USDA)

Usage

Leaves are cooked in a small amount of water. They are also used in soups and salads. Young leaves are eaten raw and older leaves are cooked. The leaves are used for sarma in Turkey. They are rolled around a filling of rice or minced meat. The sprouted seeds can be used in salads. CAUTION: Spinach can contain oxalates which affects calcium absorption.

Uses	dye food gene source leaf vegetable medicinal poison potherb
Edible	leaves seeds
Therapeutic use	Anti-bacterial agents (leaf), Diet, food, and nutrition (leaf), Fever (leaf), Inflammation (leaf), Pregnancy (leaf), Cooling effect on body (leaf), Apnea (seed), Jaundice (seed), Laxatives (seed), Liver diseases (seed), Cooling effect on body (seed), Astringent (unspecified), Demulcent (unspecified), Depurative (unspecified), Diuretic (unspecified), Fever (unspecified), Inflammation (unspecified), Laxative (unspecified), Refrigerant (unspecified), Bowel (unspecified), Anemia (unspecified), Fatigue (unspecified), Thirst (unspecified), Tumor (unspecified), Bactericide (unspecified), Carminative (unspecified), Tuberculosis (unspecified), Antivinous (unspecified), Rachitis (unspecified), Inflammatory bowel diseases (unspecified), Jaundice (unspecified), Liver diseases (unspecified), Urinary calculi (unspecified), Urinary calculi (whole plant)
Human toxicity	skin-irritating (whole)
Animal toxicity	-

Cultivation

It is normally sown directly by seeds. Plants need to be 25 cm apart.

Mode	seedlings
Germination duration (days)	-
Germination temperacture (C°)	-
Germination luminosity	-
Germination treatment	-
Minimum temperature (C°)	-
Optimum temperature (C°)	13 - 20
Size	-
Vigor	-
Productivity	-