Stellenbosch University Botanical Garden, South Africa

Common name: Spinach, Swiss chard

Family: Amaranthaceae (Amaranth)

Distribution: Mediterranean

IUCN Red list: Not evaluated

Comments: The word "chard" descends from the fourteenth-century French carde, from Latin carduus meaning artichoke thistle (or cardoon, including the artichoke).
The origin of the adjective "Swiss" is unclear, since the Mediterranean plant is not native to Switzerland, nor particularly commonly cultivated there. Some attribute the name to it having been first described by a Swiss botanist.