Ipomoea aquatica, also known as hollow cabbage, bamboo leaf lettuce, vine vegetable, etc., spinosa family petunia genus, annual or perennial trailing plants. Native to China, India, widely distributed in tropical rainy areas. Cultivation in our country has a long history, with a history of nearly 2000 years. Ipomoea aquatica has strong adaptability, few pests and diseases, fast growth, high yield, long supply period, is an ideal green vegetable. Water spinach to South China, Southwest cultivation more, in recent years, has been gradually promoted to the north, become an important summer and fall special vegetables.

The root system of water spinach is developed, fibrous root system, shallow distribution, strong regenerative capacity. Cotyledons opposite, horseshoe-shaped. True leaves alternate, long ovoid, petiole longer, base leaf heart-shaped or lanceolate, leaf surface smooth, spreading, entire, dense green or light green, leaf veins reticulate, midvein obviously raised. Stem trailing, oblate or rounded, hollow, creeping growth, soft, green or lavender. The stems have nodes, and each node can grow adventitious roots in addition to axillary buds, and the internodes are 3.5 to 5 centimeters long, with short stem nodes in the arid type and longer stem nodes in the aquatic type. After the main stem is harvested, 1 to 2 axillary buds at its base begin to sprout a second branch and grow rapidly; after a lateral branch is harvested, 1 to 2 axillary buds at its base begin to sprout again and form a second branch, and the number of lateral branches increases in the future, and so on. Cymes, 1 to several flowered, axillary, corolla funnelform, fully flowered, white or light purple. Ovary two-loculed. Capsule, ovoid, containing 2 to 4 seeds. Seeds suborbicular, thick-skinned, black-brown, with white velvet on the surface, 1,000 grains weighing 32 to 37 grams. Water spinach is propagated by seeds or young stems.