PlantFiles: Okinawan Spinach
Gynura crepioides

It grows very well here near Gainesville FL, especially in the shade where nothing else survives. It freezes back to the ground some winters but comes back in the spring. It is easy to add to just about any recipe in place of spinach but it turns all green when it is cooked so add it after cooking if you are looking for the purple color in the dish. Or garnish the dish with fresh cut leaves on the side.

This plant is also known as Crassocephalum crepidioides. It may be reproduced from seed fairly easily in Pacific climates, so much that it is invasive. It attracts butterflies and is a host plant to the Kamehameha butterfly.

It was introduced as a food plant from Africa to Australia, and then from Aust to NZ and the other Pacific islands. Grows wild from wind-distributed seed in numerous Pacific islands such as Okinawa, Fiji, Samoa and Hawaii.

The problem with reproducing it from seed is that it will nearly always revert to the wild type (solid green leaves)... losing the fancy purple coloration that many gardeners desire.

On the other hand, the wild type is also milder in flavor and more productive. My husband, who is used to plain spinach, prefers the wild type as a vegetable.

For pictures of the wild green leaved type, see:
[HYPERLINK@www.hear.org]

I have been growing this plant successfully for several years now.

The web site article mentioned in message above is NO LONGER AVAILABLE. It was excellent and I'm glad that I saved it. If you would like to read it, send me a D-Mail and I'll send it to you.

I certainly recommend this plant and the article.

Here's an interesting a site I found about this plant. Apparently, viable seed is not an option - the plant is normally propagated via cuttings.

[HYPERLINK@agrss.sherman.hawaii.edu]

I love this purple and green spinach and had some growing a few years back in our garden. We have since moved and we lost our plants. I have been looking for seeds ever since and have not been able to get them.

When I ask for Okinawan spinach here, they point to a plant that is sort of viny and the leaves are all one shade of green. It is said that eating a few leaves of this particular 'Okinawan' spinach on a daily basis will help lower cholesterol. I use this also in salads and inside tortilla wraps.

TO: Breezymeadow - A huge Mahalo! The address provided at the bottom of the article on the link you sent is just 4 miles up the road from where I live! I'm contacting them this morning to see if I can get cuttings.....Thanks, again!

Uptading:
I was able to get some cuttings and now have two fairly healthy plants. They are still sort of small, but I think they will make it.

Gynura crepiodes is a tropical, sup-tropical vegetable that makes a nice addition to salads. It can also be eaten when cooked. It is grown commercially as a vegetable in China. It is also an attractive pot plant--shiny green leaves above, purple underneath. Grows well in subtropical Florida. It is somewhat frost intolerant until established.