Oenanthe javanica Oenanthe javanica Oenanthe javanica, commonly Java waterdropwort, Chinese celery, Indian pennywort, Japanese parsley, water celery and water dropwort, is a plant of the water dropwort genus originating from East Asia. (Chinese celery is also the name given to "Apium graveolens" var. "secalinum"). It has a widespread native distribution in temperate Asia and tropical Asia, and is also native to Queensland, Australia. This plant should not be confused with the plants of the genus "Cryptotaenia", sometimes called "Japanese wild parsley" ("mitsuba" in Japanese). "O. javanica" is a perennial herb that grows to about 1 m in height, with fibrous roots that
Celery cultivars have been selected for solid petioles, leaf stalks. A celery stalk readily separates into "strings" which are bundles of angular collenchyma cells exterior to the vascular bundles. Wild celery, "Apium graveolens" var. "graveolens", grows to tall. It occurs around the globe. The first cultivation is thought to have happened in the Mediterranean region, where the natural habitats were salty and wet, or marshy soils near the coast where celery grew in agropyro-rumicion-plant communities. North of the alps wild celery is found only in the foothill zone on soils with some salt content. It prefers moist or wet, nutrient rich,