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Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Caryophyllales
Family: Amaranthaceae
Common name: Elcha, Haicha, Chanchi(Beng.); Sessile joyweed and Dwarf copperleaf.
Edible Parts: Young shoot, Leaf, Stem, Root
Life cycle: Perennial
Native Range: Native to Tropical America, Africa, Asia and also in temperate Asia. The plant occurs around the world. The leaves are used as a vegetable. Young shoots and leaves are eaten as a vegetable in Southeast Asia. Occasionally it is cultivated for food or for use in herbal medicines. It is usually (but not always especially in areas of high humidity where it can even be a garden weed) found in wet or damp spots. This is a perennial herb with prostrate stems, rarely ascending, often rooting at the nodes. Leaves obovate to broadly elliptic, occasionally linear-lanceolate.Flowers in sessile spikes, bract and bracteoles shiny white. In the wild it flowers from December till March. |
