• Family : BASELLACEAE
  (Basella Family)
• Family (Hindi name) : POI FAMILY (पोई फैमिली)
• Family (as per The APG System III) : BASELLACEAE
• Synonym(s) : Basella rubra L.
• Species Name (as per The Plant List) : Basella alba L.
• Common name : Indian spinach, Malabar spinach
• Vernacular name : Bussley soppu (Kannada); Pasalaikkeerai, Paasaangalli (Tamil); Basala, Basalacheera, Pasalikeera, Pappadacheera, Vasalacheera (Malayalam); Poi, Pui (Hindi); Poi, Pui (Oria); Bachhali (Telugu)
• Habit : Climber
• Comments / notes : Cultivated. On hills above 500m; on thickets by forest borders; in plains, scrub jungles, moist and dry deciduous forests
• Flower, Fruit : Throughout the year
• Distribution :
  • Kerala : All districts
  • Maharashtra : Akola district
  • Tamil Nadu : Alagar Hills (Madurai district), Kolli Hills (Namakkal district), Shevaroy Hills (Salem district), Kalrayan Hills (Salem district), Pachamalai Hills (Tiruchirapalli district), Bodamalai Hills (Salem district), Chitteri Hills (Vellore district), Sirumalai Hills (Dindigul district), Yelagiri Hills (Vellore district), Dharmapuri Hills (Dharmapuri district), Piranmalai Hills (Sivaganga district), Theerthamalai Hills (Dharmapuri district), Gingee Hill (Villipuram district), Javadu Hills (Tiruvannamalai district)
• Native : Tropical Asia, Africa
• World Distribution : Tropical Asia, Africa often Cultivated
• Conservation Status : Not Evaluated (NE)
• Literature : Parthsarathy, N & Muthumperumal, C 2009. Check List 5(1): 092-111; Matthew, K.M., The Flora of Tamil Nadu Carnatic, Vol.3 (2). Diocesan Press, Madras. 1983; Sasidharan, N. 2011. Flowering plants of Kerala. DVD, V 2, KFRI.
• Citation : Sankara Rao, K., Raja K Swamy, Deepak Kumar, Arun Singh R. and K. Gopalakrishna Bhat (2019). Flora of Peninsular India. http://peninsula.ces.iisc.ac.in/plants.php?name=Basella alba. Downloaded on 7 September 2024.

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