Plant · P-283

Water Spinach

Ipomoea aquatica

Water spinach is a fast-growing aquatic vine grown across Southeast Asia as both a leaf vegetable and one of the best livestock fodders available - rich in protein, palatable to rabbits, pigs and cattle, and harvestable year-round in frost-free conditions. Its stems root at every node and can advance several inches a day, so an unconfined planting colonizes an entire body of water in a single season. It is a federally listed noxious weed in the United States, and Texas separately lists it as a prohibited exotic species requiring a permit to possess, propagate or transport, with real per-plant penalties for anyone caught without one. Grown in polluted water it also pulls heavy metals out of the water column - useful for filtration, but it makes anything harvested from that water unsafe to eat.