Chinese Mallow ‘Asia Chi Ma’ (Malva verticillata) Treated Seeds – Asian Leafy Vegetable

Minimum: 50+ Seeds

Chinese Mallow 'Asia Chi Ma' — The Green Behind a Thousand Stir-Fries

Walk through any Chinese vegetable market in summer and you'll find bundles of this soft, mucilaginous green, known as dong kui cai, sold as fast as it arrives. Chinese Mallow is a heat-loving leafy vegetable prized for its tender texture and mild, slippery quality once cooked, closer to okra than spinach. Asia Chi Ma is a productive strain selected for continuous cutting, regrowing quickly through the hottest part of the season. This seed is treated to protect germination in the field, standard practice for this variety at commercial scale.

Who Grows Chinese Mallow?
The home cook wanting an authentic ingredient for classic Chinese soups and stir-fries.
The summer gardener needing a leafy green that thrives in heat most lettuces can't.
The Asian vegetable grower expanding beyond bok choy and napa cabbage.
The continuous-harvest gardener who wants a cut-and-come-again crop all season.
The market gardener growing a crop with strong demand in Asian communities.

What This Asian Leafy Vegetable Actually Is
Malva verticillata, known as Chinese mallow, cluster mallow, or dong kui cai, is a fast-growing annual in the mallow family, native to Asia and grown as a leaf vegetable across China, Korea, and Japan. Asia Chi Ma produces broad, rounded, slightly ruffled leaves on upright, branching plants reaching 2 to 3 feet, with new leaves forming continuously as older ones are harvested. Cooked, leaves develop a soft, mucilaginous texture similar to okra, mild in flavor and used in soups, where the thickening quality is valued. Young leaves can also be stir-fried or blanched. The plant tolerates heat well, a reliable summer green when other leafy crops bolt. This seed lot is treated with a fungicide coating to improve germination and reduce damping-off; not intended for consumption or organic certification. Grown as a warm-season annual.

In the Kitchen & Garden

• Classic mallow soup: Simmer leaves in broth with garlic for a traditional soup with body.
• Stir-fried greens: Quickly stir-fry young leaves with garlic and oil for a tender side.
• Blanched salad green: Blanch briefly and dress with sesame oil and soy.
• Continuous harvest bed: Grow as a cut-and-come-again crop, harvesting outer leaves all season.
• Summer garden gap-filler: Plant where heat-sensitive greens have bolted for reliable harvest.
• Congee addition: Stir chopped leaves into rice congee in the final minutes of cooking.

Growing Chinese Mallow Seeds

• Start method: Direct sow after soil warms, or start indoors 3-4 weeks before transplant.
• Germination: Sprouts in 5-10 days in warm soil.
• Soil temperature: Best 65-80°F.
• Spacing: Space plants 8-12 inches apart in rows 12-18 inches.
• Sunlight: Full sun.
• Soil: Rich, well-drained soil with fertility supports continuous cutting.
• Watering: Consistent moisture; leaves toughen if drought-stressed.
• Harvest: Begin cutting outer leaves once plants reach 6-8 inches; harvest often.
• Succession planting: Sow every few weeks for steady summer supply.
• Heat tolerance: Thrives in high heat where many leafy greens bolt or fail.
• Seed treatment: Seed is fungicide-treated; wash hands after handling and do not eat seed.
• Growth cycle: Fast-growing, first harvest in as little as 30-40 days.

Before You Close This Page
This is the summer green that keeps producing when lettuce quits. Chinese Mallow delivers the soft, mucilaginous texture prized in classic Chinese soups, cooked leaf by leaf as the plant regrows. Asia Chi Ma was selected for continuous cutting through the hottest months. Full sun, moisture, and warm soil are all it needs. Treated seed means reliable germination in less-than-ideal conditions. Sow where lesser greens have already given up. Grow the vegetable behind a thousand Chinese kitchen soups.