Warrigal Greens

Here's another excellent "weed" that mainly occurs in the cooler months on our property, and is quite nice eating.


Binomial name: Tetragonia tetragonioides
Common names : Warrigal Greens, NZ Spinach, Cooks Cabbage

The scientific name is from the greek - tetra - 4, gonia - angle = 4 angled fruit.The small woody fruit is this shape


Warrigal Greens is a recent name that seems to have been coined from two older ones, Warrigal Cabbage and Botany Bay Greens. Warrigal was an Aboriginal name for the dingo.


Identification:

Warrigal greens is a perennial creeping plant with pencil thick stems that grow to one or two metres long. It prefers moist areas and is salt tolerant. The leaves are quite distinctive - bright green and diamond or arrow -shaped, up to 10 centimetres long by five centimetres wide. The leaves are quite thick and have a rubbery feel to them. The flowers are quite small and are green or yellow in colour. They are followed by small, woody, winged fruits.

History:

Warrigal greens has an interesting history from an Australian/NZ viewpoint - it is the only native vegetable that we have exported to the world.
It is native to : Australia and NZ, and also Japan, Chile and Argentina. The Māori and Aborigines rarely used it as a leafy vegetable probably because they couldn't readily boil greens. Captain Cook mentioned it in his journals - he directed his crew to pick, cook, and pickle Warrigal Greens to help fight scurvy. Indeed the first recorded meal eaten by Europeans in Australia was Stingray served with Warrigal Greens aboard the Endeavour - the Stingray was caught in Botany Bay, which Captain Cook initially called Sting-Ray Bay.

Joseph Banks took seeds back to Kew Gardens and it then became a popular summer vegetable in Victorian England. Indeed Warrigal Greens may also have played a role in the selection of Botany Bay for the convict settlement - Banks testified before the House of Commons in 1779 that Botany Bay was suitable for settlement as " the grass was long and luxuriant and there was some eatable Vegetables particularly a sort of Wild Spinage"

In the early days of the colony, Saturdays were officially set aside for collecting native plants to try to prevent scurvy, and many convicts may well have avoided scurvy by eating the leaves of Warrigal Greens.

Although it is recorded on the Internet as thriving in hot weather, I find it occurs here (South east Queensland) in Autumn and Winter mainly( I can't recall about Spring!) . It is really lush and rampant at present. Few insects seem to eat it, and even slugs and snails leave it alone. My chickens love it, as do my Jade Perch fish.

Nutritional:

High in Vitamin A - 4400 IU (probably some of this is probably carotenoids)
Some B vitamins, good levels of vitamin C - 30mg.
High oxalate content - same as spinach.

What to eat:

Pick young leaves - wash and blanch for a few minutes to reduce oxalates, then use then as a spinach substitute, add to omeletes, casseroles or stews. Leaves can also be chopped (or roll them up and slice them finely), and lightly fried. It is probably not suitable for salads due to the oxalate content although it is reported as being used this way. We have eaten it as a potherb and incorporated into omelettes.

Published Medical information (usual place - pubmed)

Not much to find : anti -ulcer activity, anti- inflammatory activity and of course anti -oxidant activity from the high carotenoid/vitamin A content.

Conclusion:

Well worth eating - blanch to remove oxalate though by bringing water to the boil, place greens in and boil for about 2 minutes and then drain.
This works well for us in removing some of the bitterness from the edible weeds we eat.


I will do a post soon with my take on oxalates, cyanide, alkaloids, nitrate and nitrites that can occur in edible plants (not just weeds).

ref: Tim Low Wild Herbs of Australia and New Zealand Angus and Robertson
(out of print unfortunately but may be available second hand)