This variety is generally grown for summer use; but it soon runs to seed, particularly in warm and dry weather. Where a constant supply is required, a sowing should be made every fortnight, commencing as early in spring as the frost leaves the ground. The seeds are round and smooth. Plants from the first sowing will be ready for use the last of May or early in June.
In Belgium and Germany, a sub-variety is cultivated, with smaller and deeper-colored foliage, and which is slower in running to flower. It is not, however, considered preferable to the Common Summer or Round-leaved.
Winter or Common Prickly Spinach.
Epinard ordinaire. Vil.
Leaves seven or eight inches long, halberd-shaped, deep-green, thin in texture, and nearly erect on the stalk of the plant; seeds prickly.
From this variety most of the improved kinds of Prickly Spinach have been obtained; and the Common Winter or Prickly-seeded is now considered scarcely worthy of cultivation.
Yellow Sorrel-Leaved Spinach.
White Sorrel-leaved Spinach. Blond à Feuille d'Oseille. Vil.
The leaves of this variety are similar in form and appearance to those of the Garden Sorrel. They are of medium size, entire on the border, yellowish-white at the base, greener at the tips, and blistered on the surface.
New. Represented as being hardy, productive, slow in the development of its flower-stalk, and of good quality.