LEAF VEGETABLES Indrotuction Nutrition Preparation Africa Italy Poland United States List of leaf vegetables Postharvest diseases Gallery See also Leaf vegetables , also called leafy greens , pot herbs , vegetable greens , or simply greens , are plant leaves eaten as a vegetable , sometimes accompanied by tender petioles and shoots . Leaf vegetables eaten raw in a salad can be called salad greens . Nearly one thousand species of plants with edible leaves are known. Leaf vegetables most often come from short-lived herbaceous plants , such as lettuce and spinach . Woody plants of various species also provide edible leaves. The leaves of many fodder crops are also edible for humans, but are usually only eaten under famine conditions. Examples include alfalfa , clover , and most...