Chaya is native to the Yucatan Penninsula, where it is a traditional Maya (I think) vegetable. Wild plants have stinging hairs but domesticated plants can be handled. As far as I can tell, it is self-sterile. It blooms pretty much continuously, but I have never seen it set seed. The blossoms just drop off.
It grows continuously as long as it is warm and gets some water.
Because of the lack of seeds of domesticated types, and stinging hairs of wild types, it is distributed almost completely by cuttings. They take very easily. Just put the cutting in potting soil, and treat it as though it were already rooted, and it will root in a week or two.
There are 4 different leaf types in cultivation. I have the type with more finely lobed, glossy leaves; it is fairly attractive and could easily pass for an ornamental. Some types have a more shallowly-lobed, smoother-margined leaf.
Cubans brought them to Florida, and Mexicans to south Texas. Those are the only 2 parts of the USA I am aware of where it is grown, and they seem to be mostly pass-along plants. Presumably it should be easy to grow in many sunbelt states, particularly California and southern Arizona. It is native to wet-dry jungle with a severe hot dry season and a rainy wet season, so it is fairly tolerant either way.
ECHO sends cuttings around the world. Not sure how to qualify for their program. Tell them that you're on a mission to share high-productivity food plants on your crowded island whose inhabitants would otherwise have no access to freshly-grown local food.
http://neemtreefarms.com/chaya-plant-p-82.htmlhttp://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/proceedings1996/v3-516.htmlThe nutritional analysis of chaya (C. chayamansa) leaves and spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.) are presented in Table 1 for comparison. Chaya leaves were found to contain substantially greater amounts of nutrients than the spinach leaves. The chaya leaf is especially high in protein (5.7%), crude fiber (1.9%), calcium (199.4 mg/100 g), potassium (217.2 mg/100 g), iron (11.4 mg/100 g), vitamin C (164.7 mg/100 g), and carotene (0.085 mg/100 g).
I have not tried any yet, but numerous informants say it's better than spinach, being less watery.
You have to cook it at least 1 minute to remove the cyanide (just like its cousin Manihot esculenta--but I don't think Chaya is nearly as potent as Cassava), but they say it needs longer cooking than that to make it tender. A lot of people speak of serving it with butter and garlic, or olive oil and garlic.
Offdalip, are you going to chime in here? Are you familiar with this vegetable? Have you had it?
Aside from being highly nutritious, it is highly productive and easy to grow. It is reputedly one of the most productive greens on the planet.
