Edible portions: Leaves, Seeds, Vegetable, Fruit
An annual herb. It is upright, branching, and slightly woody. Plants vary in height, shape, leafiness and hairiness. Plants grown for leaves are usually only 30 cm tall. They also have many branches. Leaves are shiny and have leaf stalks. The leaves have teeth along the edge. The tips of the lowest leaves in each side, have long bristle like structures. Small clusters of yellow flowers grow in the axils of the leaves. The fruit are ridged capsules. They can be 7 cm long. These have partitions across them between the seeds. A ripe capsules contains 180-230 seeds. The seeds are dull grey and with four faces and one long point. Each seed has one pale line along it.
A tropical plant. It is mostly coastal, below 250 m altitude. Temperatures of 22°-35°C are suitable. It can stand both drought (2 -3 weeks) and water-logging, except when young. A well drained soil is best. They require humus-rich soils. A pH of 5.5-7.0 is best, but they can grow in soils with pH up to 8.5. They also need adequate moisture for good leaf production. A rainfall of 1,000 mm is suitable. A high relative humidity (80-90%) is best. It produces seeds when day lengths are short. In Yunnan.