Green leafy vegetables include spinach, lettuce (head lettuce, loose leaf lettuce, stem lettuce), leek, Toona sinensis, celery, water spinach (water spinach), coriander (coriander), rape (green vegetable), fennel, sunflower (agarwood), amaranth and leaf coriander. Among them, spinach, lettuce, mustard, rape, water spinach, amaranth and chrysanthemum morifolium are popular common foods, with large planting area and wide adaptability; Coriander and basil are spicy seasoning dishes; Sunflower, purple-backed begonia and chrysanthemum brain are all rare vegetables, which are planted in a small area. Mustard (potherb mustard) belongs to pickled vegetables; Shepherd's purse used to be a wild vegetable in the field in early spring, but in recent years it has changed from wild to cultivated. Leaf vegetables used to be light vegetables in April because of their wide adaptability, difficulty in bolting in spring and high yield. However, due to poor palatability, the planting area is gradually shrinking, so it is difficult to see them in the market at present, and only a small amount of them are planted in some traditional planting areas in rural areas.

According to the requirements of temperature, green leafy vegetables can be divided into two categories. One kind likes cold, such as rape, celery, leek, lettuce, spinach, coriander, fennel, shepherd's purse, chrysanthemum brain and so on. The organ growth period of their products is suitable for spring and autumn and cool season, and the seedling stage has strong cold resistance. Most of them can be harvested in batches in the Yellow River Basin in the winter when they are open next spring. Among them, spinach, shepherd's purse and leek have strong cold resistance, and they can all winter in northern China. The other is water spinach, sunflower, amaranth, begonia purpurea, etc. It is warm and has certain heat resistance, and can be picked in summer.