La Porcellina

Native of Mexico, perhaps imported accidentally with the Indian fig, this little succulent appears spontaneously in late summer in cultivated ground in Greece, southern Italy and Spain. Fleshy-leaved, emerald green, this plant makes an excellent addition to a tomato salad, when picked before its small yellow flowers appear. It was grown as a potherb in England in Victorian times, a kitchen garden annual, but was already mentioned by Gerard in 1597, as was the then ‘fabulous’ Indian fig, which he showed, drawn from hearsay, as an arboreal cathedral!