Spinacia oleracea

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Spinach;
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Annual cultivated herb with red or white root; stems simple or branched; basal leaves in a rosette, leaf blade usually triangular-ovate to hastate, slightly succulent, margin entire or lobed (cheeri palak in J & K), stem leaves lanceolate in inflorescence; Flowers unisexual; male flowers in leafless spikes or panicles with usually 4 perianth segments; filaments filiform; female flowers clustered in leaf axils, subtended by 2 perianth-like bracts that become hard and enlarged in and enclosing fruit, provided with spiny appendages or without spines (var. inermis).
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Spinacia oleracea (Amaranthaceae) from Uttarakhand_DSR_March_01 : 13 posts by 3 authors. Attachments (2)
The true Spinacia oleracea var. oleracea cultivated in Pantnagar.
It is known as ‘Pahadi Palak’ (in Uttarakhand) indicating its affinity for cooler climate of hills.
Seeds in this cultivated variety have distinct spines.
Most of us now understand that commonly cultivated Palak in warmer parts of India is not Spinacia oleracea.

Yes … I had tough time telling my colleagues in Delhi in 1975 that what they teach in taxonomy practical classes is not Spinacea oleracea. It is rather Beta vulgaris var. benghalensis now known as var. maritima, Indian spinach or beet leaf. And yesterday in Krishi Vigyan mela were Vilayati Palak (obviously Spinacea oleracea) and three cultivars of Beta vularis var. maritima (as PUSA Palak) were grown together, and Beta vulgaris separately.

Hastate leaves and unisexual flowers are characteristic of Spinacia oleracea. I remember, when in one College when I went as examiner and they insisted on calling Delhi Palak as Spinacia oleracea, I told them after getting frustrated, OK if any student shows flowers as bisexual (as they are in Beta vulgaris) I would detect their marks. That did the trick.

what is the aspinach fresh bundles we get in california?

Spinacia oleracea only.

thank you, … so what we eat as palak/ spinach in india may not have as much oxalates as in the real spinach?
is there a comparison of chemical analysis of the beta vs spinach done ?
a reference or two then, please

I think slightly less in Spinach beet (610) as compared to spinach (750).
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=george&dbid=48

Another comparison
http://www.childrensdayton.org/lithiasis__oxalate

thank you for both links

whole foods is where used to buy all my green groceries.. beet greens is just that, often attached to beets and stalk of the leaf is red…
and beet greens (often attached to beet root ) I buy here in kolkata from organic gardens are same as beet green one buys in wholefoods over there

not like the spinach we get in India where leaves are thick, smooth and shiny and beigish or greenish water laden stalks…
even if the name is same these are different in the looks…
i have yet to really come to terms with this classification..
a couple of years ago I think we had similae discussion right here..
perhaps someone knowledgable needs to plant all three …
the spinach of india..
spinach of usa
and real beets for its green
and study them right until they flower and set seeds
do chemical analysis and even DNA fingerprinting… may be we can sep them then…
I dont see any other way…

Spinach beet, beet leaf, Indian spinach, Beta vulgaris var. maritima (formerly var. bengalensis) that I am talking about does not have swollen roots like typical beet, nor are petioles that flesh and swollen. We had both beet root plant and Spinach beet in our College garden.

Here are some for you
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Beta-vulgaris-beet-vikas-puri-DSC01851-Delhi-1.jpg

Beta-vulgaris-bengalensis-Delhi-IMG_9845-Delhi-1.jpg
Beta-vulgaris-cicla-Green chard-California-1a.jpg
Beta-vulgaris-cicla-Rainbow chard-California-1a.jpg
Beta-vulgaris-cicla-Rainbow chard-California-3a.jpg
Beta-vulgaris-cicla-Red chard-California-1a.jpg
Beta-vulgaris-‘Golden Chard’-Farmers Market-Sunnyvale-DSC08097-California-1a.jpg
Beta-vulgaris-Golen Beets-Farmers Market-Sunnyvale-DSC08078 copy-California-1a.jpg
Beta-vulgaris-‘Green Chard’-Farmers Market-Sunnyvale-DSC08095-California-1.jpg
Beta-vulgaris-‘Ruby Rd Chard’-Farmers Market-Sunnyvale-DSC08089-California-1a.jpg
Beta-vulgaris-Swiss chard-California-Manpreet-photo 4-6a.jpg
Beta-vulgaris-Swiss chard-California-Manpreet-photo 5-6a.jpg
thanks … for all these pictures…
perusing them increases my questions…
swiss chard tastes and crunches differently in mouth.. cant really be eaten raw as in salsd where as young “spinach” leaves can be … in ca how can swiss chard be in same group as spinach???? boggles my mind… a lot of your pictures are swiss chard and not spinach nor beet greens…
and the spinach in kolkata can not be eaten raw ,… the crunch and chewing difficulty with too much to chew and taste not the same …
botanists have to separate out these two groups … all the different spinaches as in this case
and all the brassica veggies…
mutations happened a long time ago … giving taxonomists a long time to study them and separate them..
haven’t anybody done chromosomes and DNA analysis of these ?
i find this a very fertile ground for finally naming them into sep entitites… i would do it myself if i were a young hot shot botanist/horticulturist starting my career now…
personally i dont see an end
/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Spinacea-oleracea-cheeri-Balgarden-DSC02798-Kashmir-1.jpg

Chenopodiaceae and Amaranthaceae Week: Spinacia oleracea from Kashmir:
Spinacia oleracea L., Sp. pl. 2:1027. 1753

Syn: Spinacia inermis Moench
Common names: Spinach,
Hindi: Palak
Annual cultivated herb with red or white root; stems simple or branched; basal leaves in a rosette, leaf blade usually triangular-ovate to hastate, slightly succulent, margin entire or lobed (cheeri palak in J & K), stem leaves lanceolate in inflorescence; Flowers unisexual; male flowers in leafless spikes or panicles with usually 4 perianth segments; filaments filiform; female flowers clustered in leaf axils, subtended by 2 perianth-like bracts that become hard and enlarged in and enclosing fruit, provided with spiny appendages or without spines (var. inermis).

Not to be confused with Beta vulgaris var. maritima (syn. var. bengalensis) grown and eaten in warmer parts of India.

Here are some more images to compare:
http://www.efloras.org/object_page.aspx?object_id=38079&flora_id=1
http://www.scientific-web.com/en/SpinaciaOleracea01.html
http://luirig.altervista.org/flora/name=spinacia+oleracea
http://linnaeus.nrm.se/flora/di/chenopodia/spina/spinole1.jpg

Thanks Sir, Means that the Palak we cultivate and consume is Beta vulgaris var. maritima..

Yes …

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Spinacia oleracea L.: 8 very high res. images.

Location: Gyaneswor, Kathmandu
Date: 01 March 2023
Elevation: 1400 m.
Habit : Cultivated
Nepali Name : पालुङ्गो साग  Paalungo Saag

A common leafy vegetable.

Yes, indeed. Our usual vegetable.

Do you mean by Beetroot? It looks different. Please see spiked seeds.

URL corrected.

Beet root is Beta vulgaris subsp. vulgaris Conditiva Group (Garden Beet or Beetroot Group) as per
Does the seed look like this ?
3 images

No, these are not fruits/ seeds. These are some other structures. I am not able to find out from the descriptions in Flora of China, Flora of Pakistan.

This is really Spinacia oleralea (left plant, right is tomato). Usually, Spinacia is dioecious, but in your case it is monoecious (some cultivated exemplars). The male flowers are above, and the female ones below the male inflorescence covered with bracts tightly adjoining to the fruit. They are clustered together.

What are these spine-like structures at the base of the inflorescence ?

these spiny structures are bracts enclosing each female flower and finally one-seeded fruit.

I think the plant should be Spinacia oleracea only. The leaves are many times like Beta vulgaris only especially in Baby spinach plants. The axillary flowers are female flowers (male in panicles) and spines that you see are the bracteoles of female flower which become hard in fruit (in forma spinosa) and are spiny. We can see lobed leaves which we find in Spinacia not Beta.

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References: