27. Oenanthe L. (water dropwort)

Thirty to 40 species, North America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Malesia.

Most species of Oenanthe that have been tested produce a series of polyacetylenes similar to those in Cicuta and thus are highly poisonous (hence the common name dropwort). The sole exception is O. javanica, which is eaten as a vegetable in parts of Asia and Indonesia. Plants introduced for horticulture in the United States may not have originated from edible stocks and thus should be avoided for culinary purposes without certain knowledge of the edibility of the particular plants in question. In addition to O. javanica, several species in the genus occasionally are cultivated in bog gardens and other aquatic horticultural applications, including O. aquatica (L.) Poir. (water fennel, which apparently has escaped in Ohio and Washington, D.C.) and O. pimpinelloides L.