Common Name: Vine spinach
Description
Basella alba is an edible perennial vine in the family Basellaceae. It is found in tropical Asia and Africa where it is widely used as a leaf vegetable. It is native to the Indian Subcontinent, Southeast Asia and New Guinea. It is reportedly naturalized in China, tropical Africa, Brazil, Belize, Colombia, the West Indies, Fiji and French Polynesia . . . .Read more
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Annuals
Momordica charantia
Common Name: Bittergourd
Description
Momordica charantia, known as bitter melon, bitter gourd, bitter squash, or balsam-pear in English, has many other local names. Goya from Okinawan and karela from Sanskrit are also used by English-language speakers and pavakai in Tamil.
It is a tropical and subtropical vine of the family Cucurbitaceae, widely grown in Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean for its edible fruit, which is extremely bitter. Its many varieties differ substantially in the shape and bitterness of the fruit. This fruit is known as “Pare” (paray) in Indonesia and is widely grown and fertile throughout the land of Indonesia. . . . .Read more
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Brassica carinata
Common Name: Ethiopia Mustard
Description
Brassica carinata (Ethiopian rape,Ethiopian mustard, Abyssinian mustard) is a member of the Triangle of U species (U, 1935) in the agriculturally significant Brassica genus. It has 34 chromosomes with genome composition BBCC, and is thought to result from an ancestral hybridisation event between Brassica nigra (genome composition BB) and Brassica oleracea (genome composition CC) (Prakash and Hinata, 1980). Although B. carinata is cultivated as an oilseed crop in Ethiopia (Alemayehu and Becker, 2004), it has generally high levels of undesirable glucosinolates and erucic acid (Getinet et al. 1997), making it a poor choice for general cultivation as an oilseed crop in comparison to the closely related Brassica napus (Rapeseed) . . . .Read more
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Amaranthus cruentus
Common Name: Grain amaranth
Description
Amaranthus cruentus is a flowering plant species that yields the nutritious staple amaranth grain. It is one of three Amaranthus species cultivated as a grain source, the other two being Amaranthus hypochondriacus and Amaranthus caudatus. In Mexico, it is called huautli (Spanish pronunciation: ] and alegría and in English it has several common names, including blood amaranth, red amaranth, purple amaranth, prince’s feather, and Mexican grain amaranth. In Maharashtra, it is called as shravani maath or rajgira . . . . .Read more
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