Cryptotaenia canadensis (L.) Dc.

Rhizome 1-2 by to 1 cm, chambered. Stems erect, to 90 cm, terete, striate. Petioles to 10 cm, upper ones gradually shorter; sheaths with mem branous margins, apex auriculate; lamina ternate, leaflets sessile or short-petiolulate, ovate to rhomboid, irregularly biserrate to bidentate, lateral ones often bifid to bipartite. Compound umbels terminal on the stems and the branches, united to leafy panicles; peduncles 1-8 cm; rays 5-7, 3-50 cm, those of one umbel very different in length; pedicels 6-10, 1½-15 mm, those of one umbellule very different in length; involucres 0-2, to 4 mm, subulate; involucels 2-5, to 1 mm, subulate. Calyx teeth absent, short in fruit. Petals nearly 1 by ½-¾ mm, obcordate with inflexed tips, white. Mericarps 4-6 by 1½ mm, oblong-ellipsoidal, attenuate at both ends, somewhat laterally flattened, distinctly ribbed; stylopodium conical, bipartite, the halves together with the styles forming nearly ¾ mm long beaks.

It is a temperate plant. It suits cooled places. It withstands frosts well. It can grow in shade. It can be grown in the lowlands in Indonesia. It suits hardiness zones 3-9.

The roots are boiled in salty water and served with oil. The leaves and stems are used to garnish salads and soups and cooked as a vegetable. The leaves are boiled then eaten with oil and salt. The seeds are used for seasoning. They are used to flavour cakes and bread. The stems are candied in sugar.

Plants can be grown from seed or by root division.