Aibika

Family

Malvaceae

Habit

perennial

Height

2.5 m

Spread

2 m

Growth

very fast

Lifespan

3 years

First yield

after 1 year

Hardiness

zone 10–12

Shade tolerance

light shade

Soil

Sand, Silt, Loam

Soil moisture

semi-dry – very wet

pH

5.8 – 7

Synonyms

Hibiscus manihot, Maniok-Bisameibisch

Times apply to the northern hemisphere in a temperate climate and shift with altitude and cultivar.

Edible: Gegessen werden die jungen Blätter und Triebspitzen, und zwar als Kochgemüse, nicht roh: Sie enthalten reichlich Vitamin A und C sowie Eisen und kommen auf etwa zwölf Prozent Eiweiß in der Trockenmasse, was für ein Blattgemüse ein hoher Wert ist. Beim Garen tritt der für Malvengewächse typische Schleim aus, der Suppen und Eintöpfe bindet — genau dafür wird die Pflanze in ihren Anbaugebieten geschätzt. In Papua-Neuguinea ist sie das meistgegessene einheimische Blattgemüse überhaupt. Auf den Philippinen kommt sie als Lagikway in Tinola, Sinigang und Pinangat sowie in Salate, in Indonesien als Daun Gedi in den Reisbrei Bubur Manado. Geerntet wird laufend über die ganze Saison; ältere Blätter werden faserig und bleiben besser stehen. Auch die großen Blüten sind essbar.

Medicinal: The bark is known for its emmenagogue properties and is utilized to heal wounds and cuts by applying a fresh paste every 2-3 days for approximately 3 weeks. In Nepal, warmed root juice is applied to sprains, while the flower juice is employed to alleviate chronic bronchitis and toothache.

Other uses: Besides its use as a leaf vegetable, aibika supplies a raw material for traditional East Asian papermaking. Its roots contain a viscous mucilage added to the pulp as a formation aid: it holds the fibres evenly in suspension in the vat so that thin, even sheets can be couched. In Japan the plant is called tororo aoi and the mucilage neri, indispensable when making washi paper from edgeworthia and paper mulberry; in Korea the same additive is known as dak pul and used for hanji. It is obtained by chopping the cleaned roots, steeping them in cold water and pressing them out. As a mallow the plant also yields bast fibre from the stem bark, worked locally into cord. The large, short-lived flowers are themselves edible and used as a garnish.

Site: Aibika needs the warmest spot in the garden — full sun, sheltered from wind, ideally against a south wall or under glass. It grows fast and under good conditions exceeds three metres in height and spread, quickly overshadowing its neighbours; allow at least a square metre per plant and place it at the northern edge of the bed so it does not shade lower crops. The soil must drain freely, as waterlogging rots it. As a mallow it shares its disease pressure with okra, hibiscus and hollyhock — keep it away from these if hollyhock rust is present. There is ornamental value too: the large pale yellow hibiscus flowers with their dark throat make it usable in a herbaceous border, and since it is not hardy it will not naturalise. Care: Water generously and evenly, since in drought it drops leaves and the harvest collapses; mulching holds moisture and keeps the soil warm. Because what grows is what is harvested, a generous nitrogen feed is appropriate, best split over several applications through the season. Young leaves and shoot tips are picked continuously; regular picking encourages branching and keeps the plant low, otherwise it runs up and goes bare at the base. Container-grown plants can be overwintered frost-free at about ten to fifteen degrees, kept distinctly drier and cut back by two thirds beforehand. Outdoors it is grown as an annual and cleared after the first frost. Aphids and red spider mite appear mainly on plants kept dry and in winter quarters.

In its growing regions aibika is propagated almost exclusively from cuttings, and for good reason: many of the cultivars grown as leaf vegetables flower sparsely under cultivation and set little seed, and only vegetative propagation preserves the leaf quality of a given selection. Sections of semi-ripe shoot about twenty centimetres long are cut and the lower leaves removed; they root warm and moist within two to three weeks, as reliably in a glass of water as in compost. This is also the way to carry a plant through a Central European winter: cuttings taken in late summer overwinter on a windowsill without taking up space. Seed is an option where it is available: start under warmth at twenty to twenty-five degrees from March, germination within two weeks, prick out and plant outdoors only after the last frosts.

As a summer crop that is not hardy, aibika plays no lasting part in the Central European garden year — it stands from May until the first frost and leaves nothing behind. For that period, however, it is not without value. The large pale yellow hibiscus flowers with their dark throat each open for a single day, but appear in succession over many weeks and offer easily accessible pollen in quantity; bumblebees and honeybees take to them as they take to large-flowered mallows generally. It is not a larval food plant for native moths and butterflies, and it has no specialist pollinators here. Its contribution is therefore clearly bounded: a long-lasting, readily accessible pollen source in the summer vegetable bed, no more and no less.

Special features: not hardy (brief cold to -5°C only with sharp drainage) - in Central Europe a summer crop or container plant kept frost-free at 10-15°C; exceeds 3m in one season; flowers open for 1 day only but succeed each other for weeks; continuous picking of shoot tips promotes branching; propagated from cuttings (leaf-vegetable cultivars set little seed); a mallow - shares rust pressure with okra+hibiscus+hollyhock;

South and South-East Asia to northern Australia: the Indian subcontinent, Indochina, southern and central China, Malesia, New Guinea and Queensland. Aibika has long been cultivated within this region, and its natural range can scarcely be separated from its planted one any more. Its economic stronghold today is Melanesia: in Papua New Guinea it is the most widely eaten indigenous leafy vegetable of all, and it is a fixture of the kitchen in the Philippines as lagikway and in Indonesia as daun gedi. It also reached Japan, Korea and China as a raw material for papermaking. In Europe it is grown only occasionally, under glass or as a summer crop outdoors.

Aibika is a plant of the warm, humid tropics and subtropics. Within its range it grows on open, disturbed ground — along streams, at forest edges, on grassland, rocky slopes and fallow land — making it a typical species of light secondary vegetation that will not tolerate permanent shade. In Nepal it ranges from 700 to 1700 metres. It demands warmth, steady moisture and a free-draining, nutrient-rich soil, and will not stand waterlogging. Frost sets clear limits: it survives brief cold snaps to about minus five degrees on very well-drained ground, but not real winter frost. In Central Europe it is therefore a summer crop only when grown outdoors.