Common Name:

General Information

Tetragonia decumbens is a low-growing, spreading, evergreen, succulent, perennial plant. The stems run horizontally, rooting at intervals and ascending up to 50cm tall. The branches often become woody at their base.
The edible leaves are sometimes harvested from the wild for local consumption. The plant is a valuable binder of sandy soils.

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

Range

Southern Africa - southern Namibia, S. Africa.

Habitat

Coastal sand dunes[].

Properties

Edibility Rating
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Evergreen Perennial
Height	0.30 m
Cultivation Status	Cultivated, Wild

Cultivation Details

Requires a sunny position in a well-drained, preferably sandy soil[].

Edible Uses

Leaves - raw or cooked[]. Used as a substitute for spinach[]. A slightly salty flavour raw, the cooked leaves have a rather bland flavour and so are often combined with a few acid-tasting leaves, such as Oxalis pes-caprae[]. New growth, mainly produced during the rainy season, is best[]. The leaves need to be thoroughly washed in order to get rid of the clinging sand[].

Medicinal

None known

Agroforestry Uses:

An early colonizer of moist sand dunes, it is an extremely valuable plant for stabilizing moving sand. It acts as a seed-trap and also provides organic matter that enables other species to grow on the dunes. The accumulation of plant matter such as that of Tetragonia decumbens, and the subsequent establishment of other plants, enable dunes to develop from fore-dunes to rear dunes that are stabilized by increasing plant growth[].

Other Uses

None known

Propagation

Seed -
Division of the running stems, making sure each section has some roots[].

Add a Comment:

If you have any useful information about this plant, please leave a comment. Comments have to be approved before they are shown here.

Name:

Email(Private):

Message:

Captcha: what is lesser, 17 or 71?