Japanese parsley or Chinese celery (Oenanthe javanica) is a plant of the water dropwort

Water dropwort

The water dropworts, Oenanthe , are a genus of plants in the family Apiaceae. Most of the species grow in damp ground, in marshes or in water....

 genus originating from East Asia

East Asia

East Asia or Eastern Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either geographical or cultural terms...

.

While many other species of water dropwort are extremely toxic, Oenanthe javanica is edible, and is cultivated in the People's Republic of China

People's Republic of China

China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...

, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

, Korea

Korea

Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...

, Malaysia, Thailand

Thailand

Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...

 (ผักชีล้อม), the Republic of China

Republic of China

The Republic of China , commonly known as Taiwan , is a unitary sovereign state located in East Asia. Originally based in mainland China, the Republic of China currently governs the island of Taiwan , which forms over 99% of its current territory, as well as Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu and other minor...

 (Taiwan) and Vietnam

Vietnam

Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...

, as well as in Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

, where its spring growths (called seri セリ in Japanese, minari 미나리 in Korean

Korean language

Korean is the official language of the country Korea, in both South and North. It is also one of the two official languages in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in People's Republic of China. There are about 78 million Korean speakers worldwide. In the 15th century, a national writing...

) are relished as a vegetable. It is one of the ingredients of the symbolic dish consumed in the Japanese spring-time festival, Nanakusa-no-sekku

Nanakusa-no-sekku

The Festival of Seven Herbs, or Nanakusa no sekku , is the long-standing Japanese custom of eating seven-herb rice porridge on January 7 .The nanakusa are seven edible wild herbs of spring...

.

This plant should not be confused with the plants of the Cryptotaenia

Cryptotaenia

Cryptotaenia is a genus of two species of herbaceous perennial plants, native to North America and eastern Asia, growing wild in moist, shady places.-Species:*Cryptotaenia canadensis...

genus, sometimes called "Japanese wild parsley" (mitsuba in Japanese

Japanese language

is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...

).

See also

• Nanakusa-no-sekku
  Nanakusa-no-sekku
  The Festival of Seven Herbs, or Nanakusa no sekku , is the long-standing Japanese custom of eating seven-herb rice porridge on January 7 .The nanakusa are seven edible wild herbs of spring...