Requires a light or medium well-drained but not too fertile soil in a sunny position. Tolerates saline and very alkaline soils. Succeeds in a hot dry position. Plants resent root disturbance when they are large. Plants are apt to succumb to winter wet when grown on heavy or rich soils. Dioecious. Male and female plants must be grown if seed is required.

Leaves - cooked and used as greens. The water in which the leaves is cooked is used in making corn pudding. Seed - used in piñole or ground into a meal and used as a thickener in making bread or mixed with flour in making bread[95, 105. 161, 183].

Seed - sow April/May in a cold frame in a compost of peat and sand. Germinates in 1 - 3 weeks at 13°c. Pot up the seedlings when still small into individual pots, grow on in a greenhouse for the first winter and plant out in late spring or early summer after the last expected frosts. Cuttings of half-ripe wood, July/August in a frame. Very easy. Pot up as soon as they start to root (about 3 weeks) and plant out in their permanent positions late in the following spring. Cuttings of mature wood of the current season's growth, November/December in a frame. Very easy. Pot up in early spring and plant out in their permanent position in early summer.

Alkaline slopes and flats below 2000 metres. in California.