Basella alba, commonly called Malabar spinach, is native to the East Indies. It is a vigorous, climbing, tropical vine that may be grown in St. Louis as an annual leafy vegetable for cultivation of its edible spinach-like stems and leaves or as an ornamental foliage vine. This is a fast-growing tropical vine that, if trained on a support, will rise to 6 tall in a single season. Although in a different family than spinach, the leaves taste like spinach and, unlike spinach, the plants thrive in hot summer weather. Leaves and stems are a good source of Vitamins A and C, calcium and iron. Small purple-white flowers may appear at the end of the summer (plants will not flower until daylight decreases to less than 12 hours per day).

Although both green and red leaves variety are eaten as vegetable but green variety is cultivated commercially.