This is the Creole name for an edible weed of the Amaranthus genus. Its name comes from the French for spinach, L'epinard. At least two of the species are cooked and eaten in Dominica: Amaranthus viridis and Amaranthus spinosus. The Caribs first used zepina as a cooked vegetable with their meals and in a form of calalou soup, a practice which was followed by subsequent settlers of Dominica.