Kalmi is Ipomoea aquatica, water spinach — the hollow-stemmed morning-glory of a wet bed. Hindi kalmi sag is the same green. It is not garden spinach (Spinacia), not pasalai (Basella), and not sweet potato (I. batatas). Tamil vellai keerai is used for more than one pale green. Cook it.
- Botanical name
- Ipomoea aquatica Forssk.
- Family
- Convolvulaceae
- Tamil
- Kalmi
- Hindi
- Kalmi sag
- Sanskrit
- Kalamba
- Parts used
- Young shoots, Leaves
- Habit
- Hollow-stemmed water morning-glory grown as a green
- Last updated
- 2026-10-30
How to recognise Kalmi
Forsskål published Ipomoea aquatica. The family is Convolvulaceae. It is a trailing or floating herb: hollow stems, alternate sagittate or lanceolate leaves, and funnel-shaped white to pale-lilac flowers like a small morning-glory.
A hollow, succulent stem that snaps and a wet-bed habit are the public mark. Spinach is a chenopod with a different leaf. Basella is a thick, mucilaginous climbing vine.
Tamil kalmi / vellai keerai (when the seller means this vine), Hindi kalmi sag and English water spinach / kangkong are this species. Sweet potato is I. batatas, a tuber crop.
Snap a shoot: the stem should be hollow.
Leaves vary from narrow to broadly arrow-shaped. That range is ordinary I. aquatica, not a second genus.
Flowers are morning-glory funnels. A spinach bed does not flower like that.
It roots at nodes in mud or water. A terrestrial sweet-potato vine has a tuber job.
Pale and darker-leaf forms remain this species. Colour is a cultivar fact.
Stems float. That is why it holds a ditch and a flooded bed.
Seed pods are capsules like other morning-glories. The kitchen article is the shoot, not the seed.
A dry-lot Ipomoea with a purple flower may be a weed cousin. Taste and habitat decide the green.
Traditional use of Kalmi
South and Southeast Asian food
Stir-fried or stewed young shoots are cuisine.
Bengali, Tamil, Southeast Asian kitchen practice
Household
A wet-bed green is a homestead crop. Historical cooling headings are not a medical claim.
Household practice
Modern notes on Kalmi
Stir-fried with garlic and chilli, it is one of the commonest market greens in South-East Asia.
The practical modern issue is spinach and Basella in a vellai-keerai bag, and raw ditch greens in a dirty drain.
Kalmi safety
Cooked shoots from a known clean bed are the ordinary food exposure. Raw greens from a polluted ditch are a different, worse object — wash and cook; prefer a farmed bed.
People who already avoid morning-glory family plants should be cautious. Educational only. Not medical advice. Not an offer to sell.
Ecology and sourcing
It is a planted and weedy wet-bed crop. Honesty is a named bed, not a drain-forage story.
Related plants
Also in Convolvulaceae
Questions about Kalmi
Is Kalmi spinach?
No. Garden spinach is Spinacia oleracea. Kalmi is this morning-glory.
What is the Tamil name of Ipomoea aquatica?
Kalmi. Vellai keerai is also heard, and that phrase names other pale greens too.
Is Kalmi sweet potato leaf?
No. Sweet potato is Ipomoea batatas. Related genus, different job.
Sources
- Ipomoea aquatica Forssk. — Plants of the World Online, Kew (search) (accessed 2026)
- Wikidata item Q272754 (Ipomoea aquatica)
Educational page about a plant. It is not medical advice, not a diagnosis, and not an offer to sell. Traditional use is historical. If you need care, ask a licensed clinician. Questions: hello@meevamed.com.