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The Indian spinach (Basella rubra) belongs to the family Basellaceae. It is a biennial herb that is native to tropical Asia. This vein is cultivated for flowerbeds and vegetable gardens. It blloms from July to September. The flowers are apetalous and the sepals are harf out. The young shoots contain rich carotin and used for boiled green, marinated food, stir-fry or miso soup. There are two types, "red stem type" and "green stem type". The "red stem type" has a purple stem, and the "green stem type" has a green color as a whole. The "green-stemmed" varieties are said to have a better taste, and most of the Indian spinach distributed in Japan are "green-stemmed" varieties. Recently, "thick-stemmed" varieties have been developed among the green-stemmed varieties and is being grown for production. As the name implies, the new stems are over 1 cm in diameter and cannot be wrapped around a pole. Usually, the main branch is pruned, and the side branches and grandchild branches that emerge from the pruned branch are cut to 20 cm in length and harvested. The photos 12nd-15th, bottom, show "thick-stemmed".
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