Spinach is a leafy green flowering plant native to central and western Asia. It is of the order Caryophyllales, family Amaranthaceae, subfamily Chenopodioideae. Its leaves are a common edible vegetable consumed either fresh, or after storage using preservation techniques by canning, freezing, or dehydration. It may be eaten cooked or raw, and the taste differs considerably; the high oxalate content may be reduced by steaming.
Calcium oxalate (in archaic terminology, oxalate of lime) is a calcium salt of oxalic acid with the chemical formula CaC2O4. It forms hydrates CaC2O4·nH2O, where n varies from 1 to 3. Anhydrous and all hydrated forms are colorless or white. The monohydrate CaC2O4·H2O occurs naturally as the mineral whewellite, forming envelope-shaped crystals, known in plants as raphides. The two rarer hydrates are dihydrate CaC2O4·2H2O, which occurs naturally as the mineral weddellite, and trihydrate CaC2O4·3H2O, which occurs naturally as the mineral caoxite, are also recognized. Some foods have high quantities of calcium oxalates and can produce sores and numbing on ingestion and may even be fatal. Cultural groups with diets that depend highly on fruits and vegetables high in calcium oxalate, such as those in Micronesia, reduce the level of it by boiling and cooking them. They are a constituent in 76% of human kidney stones. Calcium oxalate is also found in beerstone, a scale that forms on containers used in breweries.
Oxalic acid is an organic acid with the systematic name ethanedioic acid and formula HO2C−CO2H. It is the simplest dicarboxylic acid. It is a white crystalline solid that forms a colorless solution in water. Its name comes from the fact that early investigators isolated oxalic acid from flowering plants of the genus Oxalis, commonly known as wood-sorrels. It occurs naturally in many foods. Excessive ingestion of oxalic acid or prolonged skin contact can be dangerous.
The docks and sorrels, genus Rumex, are a genus of about 200 species of annual, biennial, and perennial herbs in the buckwheat family, Polygonaceae. Members of this genus are very common perennial herbs with a native almost worldwide distribution, and introduced species growing in the few places where the genus is not native.
Oxalis oregana, known as redwood sorrel or Oregon oxalis, is a species of the wood sorrel family, Oxalidaceae, in the genus Oxalis native to moist Douglas-fir and coast redwood forests of western North America from southwestern British Columbia to Washington, Oregon, and California.
Oxalate (IUPAC: ethanedioate) is an anion with the formula C2O42−. This dianion is colorless. It occurs naturally, including in some foods. It forms a variety of salts, for example sodium oxalate (Na2C2O4), and several esters such as dimethyl oxalate (C2O4(CH3)2). It is a conjugate base of oxalic acid. At neutral pH in aqueous solution, oxalic acid converts completely to oxalate.
Oxalis is a large genus of flowering plants in the wood-sorrel family Oxalidaceae, comprising over 550 species. The genus occurs throughout most of the world, except for the polar areas; species diversity is particularly rich in tropical Brazil, Mexico, and South Africa.
Oxalis corniculata, the creeping woodsorrel, procumbent yellow sorrel or sleeping beauty, is a somewhat delicate-appearing, low-growing herbaceous plant in the family Oxalidaceae.
Phytic acid is a six-fold dihydrogenphosphate ester of inositol, also called inositol hexakisphosphate (IP6) or inositol polyphosphate. At physiological pH, the phosphates are partially ionized, resulting in the phytate anion.
Talinum fruticosum is a herbaceous perennial plant that is native to Mexico, the Caribbean, West Africa, Central America, and much of South America. Common names include Ceylon spinach, waterleaf, cariru, Gbure, Surinam purslane, Philippine spinach, Florida spinach, potherb fameflower, Lagos bologi, sweetheart, and Kutu bataw in Ghana from the Akan language It is widely grown in tropical regions as a leaf vegetable.
Oxalis pes-caprae is a species of tristylous yellow-flowering plant in the wood sorrel family Oxalidaceae. Oxalis cernua is a less common synonym for this species. Some of the most common names for the plant reference its sour taste owing to oxalic acid present in its tissues. Indigenous to South Africa, the plant has become a pest plant in different parts of the world that is difficult to eradicate because of how it propagates through underground bulbs.
Oxalis violacea, the violet wood-sorrel, is a perennial plant and herb in the family Oxalidaceae. It is native to the eastern and central United States.
Oxalis stricta, called the common yellow woodsorrel, common yellow oxalis, upright yellow-sorrel, lemon clover, or more ambiguously and informally "sourgrass", "sheep weed", or "pickle plant", is a herbaceous plant native to North America, parts of Eurasia, and a rare introduction in Britain. It tends to grow in woodlands, meadows, and in disturbed areas as both a perennial and annual. Erect when young, this plant later becomes decumbent as it lies down, and branches regularly. It is not to be confused with similar plants in the same genus which are also often referred to as "yellow woodsorrel".
Oxalis triangularis, commonly called false shamrock, is a species of perennial plant in the family Oxalidaceae. It is native to several countries in southern South America. This woodsorrel is typically grown as a houseplant but can be grown outside in USDA climate zones 8a–11, preferably in light shade.
Antinutrients are natural or synthetic compounds that interfere with the absorption of nutrients. Nutrition studies focus on antinutrients commonly found in food sources and beverages. Antinutrients may take the form of drugs, chemicals that naturally occur in food sources, proteins, or overconsumption of nutrients themselves. Antinutrients may act by binding to vitamins and minerals, preventing their uptake, or inhibiting enzymes.
Oxalis tetraphylla is a bulbous herbaceous perennial plant from Brazil. It is sometimes sold as lucky clover or shamrock. In the wild or feral state it is often called four-leaved wood-sorrel after its genus Oxalidaceae. Other English common names for this plant include Lucky Clover, Four-Leaf Sorrel, Four-Leaf Pink-Sorrel and others. It is sometimes called "the iron cross plant" or "oxalis iron cross" because the leaves loosely resemble the iron cross symbol, though this name is not a classic folk term and has fallen out of favour due to the bad political connotations associated with this symbol.
Oxalis glabra is a member of the wood-sorrel family, Oxalidaceae. It is only one of the 800 total species belonging to this family. The plant is commonly known as finger-leaf due to its trifoliate leaf structure. This trifoliate structure can be seen in variations throughout all members of the genus Oxalis. However, the particularly narrow leaflets of the glabra plant look more like fingers rather than a common clover. The plant is native to South Africa and can be found carpeting the ground of woodlands and bushlands.
Oxalis montana is a species of flowering plant in the family Oxalidaceae known by the common names mountain woodsorrel, wood shamrock, sours and white woodsorrel. It may also be called common woodsorrel, though this name also applies to its close relative, Oxalis acetosella.
Oxalis articulata, known as pink-sorrel, pink wood sorrel, windowbox wood-sorrel, Chari amilo (Nepal),sourgrass,Netho (khatta) saag (India) is a perennial plant species in the genus Oxalis native to temperate South America. It has been introduced in Europe in gardens and is now naturalized in these areas.
