Chaya: ECHO
(Cnidoscolus aconitifolius)

Chaya is a fast-growing, drought-tolerant perennial shrub, typically reaching 3 m in height. As one of its common names "spinach tree" implies, it is grown for its dark-green leaves, which it produces in abundance. Chaya's young leaves and thick succulent stems make a tasty, nutritious, non-slimy vegetable when cooked. Both the domesticated strains, known as Chaya mansa, and the wild forms, Chaya brava, are edible. However, the wild forms characteristically possess stinging epidermal hairs that are highly irritating to the harvester's skin. CAUTION: leaves must be boiled for 15 minutes and then the water discarded to remove the cyanide from the leaves. ECHO has successfully sent cuttings around the globe.

ECHO's variety has leaves without irritating hairs.