Is water spinach the same as spinach? Here is the difference between the two

Water spinach is not spinach. It is also called hollow grass, Tong cai weng, weng cai, teng teng cai, and tong cai, and is a plant in the genus Ipomoea, section Calystegia. It is widely distributed in our country, and besides being eaten as a vegetable, it can also be used medicinally. Below, let us learn about the characteristics of water spinach and spinach.

What are the characteristics of water spinach and spinach?

1. Water spinach

Water spinach trails or floats on water. The stem is cylindrical, has nodes, is hollow between the nodes, roots at the nodes, and is hairless. The leaf blade is entire or wavy, or sometimes has a few coarse teeth at the base, and is nearly hairless on both sides or occasionally has sparse fine hairs; the petiole is 3-14 cm long and hairless.

Water spinach is native to the south, likes a warm, humid climate, tolerates heat, and does not tolerate frost. It can grow from April to October in the provinces of the Yangtze River basin.

2. Spinach

Spinach is also called Persian vegetable, bo leng, bo ling, parrot vegetable, red-root vegetable, and flying dragon vegetable, and is an annual herbaceous plant. Spinach can reach 1 m tall, the root is conical and reddish, rarely white, and the leaves are hastate to ovate, bright green, entire or with a few tooth-like lobes.

Spinach is now found in every corner of the world, and is commonly cultivated everywhere in China.

The stem of water spinach is hollow in the middle, while spinach is solid; they are two species, not the same plant.