Apart from their very important use to stabilize moving sand, the plants are also edible. The new growth, which occurs during the rainy season, is the best to use. The tops and leafy stems are harvested and must be thoroughly washed to remove the clinging sea sand. They are then boiled and because the flavour is rather bland, one of the traditional Cape seasonings, in the form of Oxalis pes-caprae, and a blob of butter added to the dish make it more palatable. The texture of the resulting spinach is somewhat grainy, but not unpleasant. Raw leaves have a somewhat salty taste. It is thought that with appropriate selection, the plant could be domesticated, yielding a crop similar to its close relative, New Zealand spinach, Tetragonia tetragonioides.
This is a spreading shrub with dark green, sessile, glistening leaves.The sheen is caused by small, shiny, water-storage cells that cover the surface of the leaf. The small, 4-petalled, yellow flowers are situated in groups of 3-5 in the upper leaf axils. They flower from August to November. The fruits are thickly 4-winged.
