Malabar spinach

Malabar spinach (Basella alba L.) belongs to the family Basellaceae and is a soft-stemmed, fast-growing twining vine that can reach 6–10 m when a support is available. The stems are round, thick and succulent, green in the typical form or red-purple in the 'Rubra' form. The alternate leaves are thick and semi-succulent, ovate to heart-shaped, 3–9 cm long, entire and stalked. Small white to pale purple or pink flowers are arranged in simple axillary spikes. The fruit is a small berry 5–6 mm across, green when young and glossy dark purple when ripe, containing a single seed; flowering occurs under short days and the plant self-seeds readily.

According to Plants of the World Online (Kew, 2026) the native range of Basella alba is tropical Asia: from the Indian subcontinent (India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka) through Southeast Asia (Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines) to New Guinea. PROTA and World Flora Online note that the exact origin remains uncertain and some accounts treat the species as native to tropical Africa as well. From old cultivation centres the vine has spread throughout the tropics and subtropics: it is introduced in China, Japan, the south-eastern United States (Florida, Alabama), many African countries, Central America, the Caribbean, South America and Pacific islands (Hawaii, Fiji, New Caledonia).

The characteristic pigments of Malabar spinach are betalains, with betacyanins dominating; the main compound is gomphrenin (betanidin 6-O-β-D-glucoside). Acylated derivatives formed with hydroxycinnamic acids have been identified, including malabarin (6′-O-E-caffeoyl-gomphrenin), globosin (6′-O-E-4-coumaroyl-gomphrenin), basellin (6′-O-E-feruloyl-gomphrenin) and gandolin (6′-O-E-sinapoyl-gomphrenin) (Kumorkiewicz et al., Int. J. Mol. Sci., 2022). Total betacyanin content in ripe fruits reaches about 42.0 mg/100 g expressed as gomphrenin equivalents (Kumorkiewicz-Jamro et al., J. Agric. Food Chem., 2024). Besides betalains, the leaves contain mucilaginous polysaccharides that thicken cooking liquid, saponins, flavonoids, β-carotene (provitamin A) and vitamin C; 100 g of fresh leaves provides about 19 kcal, 102 mg vitamin C, 400 µg vitamin A, 140 µg folate and 510 mg potassium (USDA FoodData Central).

The leaves and tender shoots are a familiar vegetable in Vietnam, cooked in soups with shrimp, crab, luffa or jute; the mucilage thickens the broth and the dish is regarded as cooling and mildly laxative. The species is also prepared as curries in Sri Lanka, the vegetable dish utan in the Philippines and pakoras in India, while the ripe fruits yield a red juice used as a colourant and dye in China. In research, Lin et al. (Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 2010) isolated gomphrenin I from the fruits and demonstrated strong antioxidant activity together with suppression of LPS-induced nitric oxide, PGE2 and IL-1β production in macrophages; Kumorkiewicz-Jamro et al. (2024) confirmed the anti-inflammatory activity of gomphrenin and its acylated derivatives in human macrophages. Other in vitro studies report that leaf extracts are antioxidant, inhibit tyrosinase and inhibit the enzymes α-amylase and α-glucosidase, pointing to potential blood-sugar-modulating benefits.

Malabar spinach is widely eaten and considered a safe vegetable; however, as with many leafy greens its leaves contain oxalate and saponins, so people with a history of kidney stones or kidney disease should eat it in moderation and avoid large amounts of raw leaves. Cooking reduces soluble oxalate. For conservation, the species is Not Evaluated on the IUCN Red List and is not listed in CITES; PROTA classifies it as not endangered because it is commonly grown in home gardens and sold at markets, and recommends it for the traditional-vegetable conservation programme of the SADCC region (Southern Africa). Genetic resources are currently held mainly in situ by farmers, with few collections in national gene banks.