Image: Wikimedia Commons (See link for license)
Spinach🌿
Spinacia oleracea
ホウレンソウ
An annual to biennial plant native to Central Asia. A representative green-yellow vegetable rich in iron, folic acid, beta-carotene, and vitamin K. Indispensable in Japanese meals as ohitashi (blanched greens), stir-fries, and soups. Blanching is recommended due to oxalic acid content, though low-oxalate salad varieties have recently become popular.
Identification Points
- ✓Leaves are soft with a smooth, glossy surface
- ✓Base of the stem is often tinged red (red-root spinach)
- ✓Dioecious with small, inconspicuous flowers
- ✓Leaf base is sagittate (arrow-shaped) to ovate
Habitat
Fields, farmland, and home gardens
Season
Autumn sowing: September–October, harvest: November–March (main season)
Morphological TraitsAI-estimated, needs verification
Leaf arrangement
Alternate
Leaf type
Simple
Venation
Pinnate
Leaf margin
Entire
Leaf shape
Ovate
Growth form
Herb
Petal fusion
No petals
Habitat
Cultivated
Stipules
Absent
Leaf dissection
Undivided
Flower symmetry
Actinomorphic
Ovary position
Superior
Phylogenetic Positionヒユ科 →
Phylogenetic Position
Angiosperms > Eudicots > Core Eudicots > Caryophyllales > Amaranthaceae
Divergence Era
Late Cretaceous to Paleogene (ca. 80–65 million years ago)
Evolution Notes
Formerly placed in Chenopodiaceae, now merged into Amaranthaceae under the APG classification. Oxalic acid accumulation is considered a defense against herbivores.
View on evolution timeline →Sources & References
AI-generated, needs verification