chaya / chayamansa / tree spinach – Cnidoscolus aconitifolius

Chaya – Cnidoscolus chayamansa, half gallon size
this is an established plant with roots, to give you a head start on the harvest.
your chaya plant may arrive leafless, if it needs to be cut back for shipping, but the leaves will come back fast. the cuttings will ship with it and can be used to start more plants.

Native to Central and South America, Chaya is a South Florida permaculture staple with a terrific black-thumb rating.
it’s so easy to grow, it’s like free food. factors like water, fertile soil, and adequate sunlight will contribute to the quality of your harvest, but the plant will survive with next to no care.
once your chaya plant is growing and producing, propagation is as easy as pruning it and shoving the sticks in the ground. you could have a whole hedge in no time.

related to cassava (family Euphorbiaceae)
also called ‘tree spinach’
Must cook before eating it!
holds up well to a lot cooking, unlike actual spinach.
works as a stand-a-lone veggie side dish, or as an addition to other dishes.
tree-like V-shaped growth pattern, up to 6 or 8 feet, dense canopy, sparse lower portion
attractive foliage, regular harvesting/pruning results in rapid regrowth
hardy in zones 8-11, freezing can cause dieback, slower growth in winte

Chaya is tropical. if a freeze is predicted, take a bunch of cuttings inside. if your chaya plant perishes, you can regrow it easily from cutting.

shipping
plants ship on Mondays and Tuesdays, priority mail, packaged as gently as possible.
live plants are affected by the shipping process, but you can expect them to rebound quickly when given adequate care.
please do your part to help your new plant friend survive by promptly unpackaging and repotting, and maybe a gentle re-introduction to direct sunlight even for sun loving plants.

i am a permaculture nerd and do not spray any pesticides or use any chemical fertilizers. i grow almost everything in the ground or in my pond/bog in Florida zone 10. stock is moved to nursery pots for root development prior to sale.

it’s not shop policy to accept returns on plants/seeds/cuttings. plants depart healthy and well-packed, and the weather and the postal service are variables beyond ones control. however, if a customer is unhappy with a purchase, i will work with them to resolve the issue.

plants ship only to addresses in the continental US, excluding California and Arizona.