From the East Indies. Though a biennial plant, in cultivation it is generally treated as an annual. Stem five feet and upwards in length, slender, climbing; leaves alternate, oval, entire on the borders, green and fleshy; flowers in clusters, small, greenish; seeds round, with portions of the pulp usually adhering,—eleven to twelve hundred weighing an ounce. They retain their vitality three years.
Large-Leaved Chinese Malabar Nightshade.
Large-leaved Malabar Spinach. Baselle à Très Large Feuille de Chine. Vil. Basella cordifolia.
A Chinese species, more vigorous and much stronger in its general habit than the Red or the White. Leaves as large as those of Lettuce,—green, round, very thick, and fleshy; flowers small, greenish; seeds round, nearly of the same form and color as those of the White variety, but rather larger.
The species is slow in developing its flower-stem, and the best for cultivation.
RED MALABAR NIGHTSHADE.
Red Malabar Spinach. Baselle Rouge. Vil. Basella rubra.
From China. Properly a biennial plant, but, like the White species, usually cultivated as an annual. It is distinguished from the last named by its color; the whole plant being stained or tinted with purplish red. In the size and color of the seeds, and general habit of the plant, there are no marks of distinction, when compared with the White.
Propagation and Cultivation.—All of the species are easily grown from seeds; which may be sown in a hot-bed in March, or in the open ground in May. They take root readily when transplanted; and may be grown in rows like the taller descriptions of pease, or in hills like running beans. Wherever grown, they require a trellis, or some kind of support; otherwise the plants will twist themselves about other plants, or whatever objects may be contiguous. All are comparatively tender, and thrive best, and yield the most produce, in the summer months.