As some of its names signify, it has similar flavour and texture properties to spinach, and is cooked like spinach.
It is grown for the edible leaves, and can be used as food or an ornamental plant for ground cover. Its Australian names of Warrigal Greens and Warrigal Cabbage come from the local use of warrigal to describe plants that are wild (not farmed originally). In addition to the name New Zealand spinach, it is also known as Botany Bay spinach, Cook's cabbage, kōkihi (in Māori), sea spinach, and tetragon. This widely distributed plant has many common names, depending on its location. German botanist Otto Kuntze placed the species in the genus Tetragonia in his 1891 work Revisio Generum Plantarum, resulting in its current binomial name. Prussian naturalist Peter Pallas described the species as Demidovia tetragonoides in 1781. The flowers of the plant are yellow, and the fruit is a small, hard capsule covered with small horns. The leaves are thick, and covered with tiny papillae that look like waterdrops on the top and bottom of the leaves. The leaves of the plant are 3–15 cm long, triangular in shape, and bright green. The plant has a trailing habit, and will form a thick carpet on the ground or climb through other vegetation and hang downwards. It is a halophyte and grows well in saline ground. Its natural habitat is sandy shorelines and bluffs, often in disturbed areas. It has been introduced and is an invasive species in many parts of Africa, Europe, North America, and South America. It is a widespread species, native to eastern Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. It is often cultivated as a leafy vegetable. Tetragonia tetragonioides, commonly called New Zealand spinach, Warrigal greens and other local names, is a flowering plant in the fig-marigold family ( Aizoaceae). †Percentages are roughly approximated using US recommendations for adults.
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