Breynia androgyna

Breynia androgyna, also known as katuk, star gooseberry, or sweet leaf, is a shrub grown in some tropical regions as a leaf vegetable.

Its multiple upright stems can reach 2.5 meters high and bear dark green oval leaves 5–6 cm long.

It is native to India and Bangladesh, Indochina, southern China including Hainan, Malesia, and New Guinea. It inhabits tropical and subtropical humid lowland forest, where it grows on brushy slopes and sunny forest margins from 100 to 400 meters elevation. It is cultivated up to 1,300 m.

It is a good source of vitamin K. and contains high level of provitamin A carotenoids, especially in freshly picked leaves, as well as high levels of vitamins B and C, protein and minerals. The more the leaves mature, the higher the nutrient content of the leaves.

However, a study has suggested that excessive consumption of uncooked and juiced katuk leaves (due to its popularity for body weight control in Taiwan in the mid 1990s) can cause lung damage, due to its high concentrations of the alkaloid papaverine.