Are you looking for culantro (Eryngium foetidum)? I have had it in pho, but not in the noodles. Where I eat you simply tear up the herb & add it to your soup. See if this is what you are looking for:

http://www.vietworldkitchen.com/essentials/herbs.htm

Also, they spell it saw-tooth herb or ngo gai.

yes yes yes, that's what I"m looking for....but it's hard to find the seeds for sale anywhere. I"m trying to root the Vietnamese coriander or hot mint (Polygonum odoratum) by using the stem I got at an asian store. I hope they do come up rooted. It's doesn't seem to be since the stem itself is drying up pretty quickly.

Try doing a search for "Eryngium foetidum seeds." I don't think a leaf will propagate, although I had the same idea myself. It is usually propagated by seeds or divisions. I think it is biennial.

Sorry to re-post, but I thought you were rooting culantro. On the Vietnamese coriander, strip the lower leaves (carefully), wrap the stems in a paper towel & then in some plastic. They should start rooting in a couple of days. If the upper leaves start to wilt, you can wrap them in a paper towel also. Any bad leaves - get rid of them so they are not stressing the cutting.

HI Baci
Thank you so much for your help. I'll try doing that.
I think a small amount of root is forming at the bottom of the stem of the vietnamese coriander even though the leaves had already dried up and felt off. I"m just keeping my finger crossed.

You can order culantro seeds at Johnny's Selected Seeds http://www.johnnyseeds.com/
I have ordered from them many times and am very satisfied with their service.

How many plants do you all have at one time? I've found foilage production to be quite slow even thought it's not bolting.

I actually just purchased these seeds on http://www.richters.com/ It can also be called mexican coriander(Eryngium foetidum). This site has a lot of other great vietamese herbs. These are the ones that I found on their site: anise basil(Thai basil), perilla purple (Japanese hojiso), Vietnamese mint, rau om (rice paddy herb), and Vietnamse coriander. They have a really great cataloge as well. Also, check out http://www.vietworldkitchen.com/essentials/herbs.htm. I found a lot of good info on the different herbs here. It was hard to know which ones to buy without seeing the pics there first.

Yes, Richters is one of the largest herb seed companies in the world. There are many other excellent vendors out there as well. Notice that Vietnamese Coriander is not sold as seed, but as a plant because it almost never goes to seed. (this was discussed in another thread in this forum)

I do prefer to order from smaller, specialized companies in order to support their endeavors.

Pgraymendoza, the Vietnamese coriander will not bolt in high temperatures, so is good for summer growing in a salsa garden. It is not the Same as the mexican variety, but smells and tastes very similar.

Ciao all-

Happily, I live close enough to Richters to be able to visit the nursery, which I did yesterday and got a Culantro plant as well as some seeds. I want to see how it does in the garden this year. I'm not expecting it to over-winter in our climate, which is why I also got some seeds to try growing it from here on out.

I am growing culantro right now from seed I bought from Seeds of India. The seedlings are very tiny and slow growing. This plant is a member of the Eryngium genus. You can cut the flower stalks off to keep the plant leafing out. Leaves become tough and less desirable after flowering.

I grow sawtooth coriander and would be happy to send anyone seeds free if you mail me a self addressed / stamped envelope. When they go to seed there are hundreds of them. It's now Sep 2012 and I just planted 12 pots with 20 seeds each. If you care to email me to make sure seeds are available please do so at michaelmalone007 at gmail.com

Michael Malone
2501 Catalina Dr
Orlando FL 32805

Greetings again, My Sawtooth Coriander plants just won't stop sending out seed flowers. I posted back in Sept '12 that I had seeds and I now have more than ever. Anyone who cares to have them please simply send a single stamp and I will be happy to return seeds. I've been fortunate to have met some great people this way and hope to continue. The seeds have over an 80% success rate so far. I, also, have Thai and Holy Basil seeds if anyone cares to have them.. they, also, will fit inside the envelope with no further postage. If anyone has heirloom tomato seeds to share I won't even ask for a postage stamp ... maybe we could just send each other the seeds. Hope to hear from chefs using sawtooth coriander !!!

Michael Malone
2501 Catalina Drive
Orlando, Florida 32805

michaelmalone007 (at) gmail.com

It's June 3, 2013 and my plants are putting out seed pods again so they are still free to anyone who will mail a postage stamp with your return address. I've sent about 6 packages out already. These are just beginning ripen.

Greetings, this is my third or fourth season for my sawtooth coriander seeds to harvest. I have a bumper crop with thousands and thousands of fertile seeds to share freely. These are grown organically in Orlando. I've mailed these seeds all over and have made some great gardening friends from it. Anyone wanting a few hundred for free please send me a single stamp and your mailing address to:

Michael Malone
2501 Catalina Drive
Orlando, Florida 32805

PS They are about 90 percent ready to harvest and should be dry in about a week or two which should put it around the end of April 2014.

Ooops forgot to include my email address... it's michaelmalone007 at gmail.com

Hi checking the availability of sawtooth coriander seeds.. do you still have

I've just harvested half of my sawtooth coriander seeds and have millions of them. Anyone who cares to have all they need for free is more than welcome to them. Just email me or send a single stamp to:

Michael Malone
2501 Catalina Drive
Orlando, Florida 32805

michaelmalone007 (at) gmail.com

Hi Michael,
I have a hard time growing them from seeds I bought from many places, I think I wasted at least 4 packets of them. So I'm interested in both your seeds and plants. I've heard that it could be propagated from roots, is that true? I'll email you as we'll.

It's that time of years again for my sawtooth coriander to bolt with seed. It looks like it will be about 3 more weeks before they are ready to ship. They are still free to anyone needing seeds for only a single stamp for postage. Also, I have some small starter plants that I can send one of for postage of 3.00 anywhere in the lower 48 states. I have seeds from last year that should still be good if anyone needs them sooner. My germination success rate is 80+ success, but, any of the seeds do take at least 4 weeks to germinate. Once germinated you CANNOT KILL THEM LOL. I mailed some plants out and they got lost in the mail for about a week or two... once they finally arrived... they still survived. My mailing address is posted a few times above and the email add is still the same. Cheers !!

Mine just keeps trying to flower. I have to keep cutting the flower stalks off because it otherwise just sits there not growing a single new leaf. Only after I cut the flower stalks off does it grow a few new leaves and a new flower stalk. I think I'm just going to start using the flower stalk in recipes. I nibbled on the stalk and it seems it has a stronger flavor than the leaves.

You might consider letting it go to seed and planting a few seeds every two weeks for a couple of months so you have multiple plants.

I left the stalks on once for months and it didn't seem to do anything. In fact it appeared the plants were dieing. The leaves they had started to all yellow while no new leaves emerged and the flower stalks just remained green so that's when I started cutting them all off so to stimulate new growth and not loose my plants. Everytime I cut off the stalks multiple new sprouts emerged with new leaves and flower stalks. It seems they're reproducing asexually when I cut off the stalks.

If you wish to prevent it from bolting then I suggest you pinch out the seed stalk stem as it is emerging rather than letting it grow at all. Every time the seed stalk grows, the plant diverts it’s mission to seed production, not leaf production. You can also purchase seeds or take michaelmalone up on his offer (above) for free seeds, or consider growing common cilantro and Vietnamese cilantro (different plant that spreads by runners) since you enjoy the flavor. Then you have a diversity of options to meet your desires.

Thanks Violet that's exactly what I've been doing lately, cutting off the stalks as they emerge. I also started a bunch of Vietnamese cilantro from cuttings a few weeks ago. I love the flavor and it's super vigorous. Common cilantro on the other hand doesn't seem worth the effort here, it's super short lived here and often ends up dieing before it even flowers.

2019 and this has to be the largest crop of Sawtooth Coriander seeds I've had. Literally millions of seeds. I am anxious to share these with anyone who will simply send me their address and one single stamp for postage. I have plenty of envelopes. Please email me, also, if you like at michaelmalone007@gmail.com or just mail a stamp to Michael Malone 2501 Catalina Drive, Orlando, Florida 32805 They have bolted and the seeds should be ready in about two or three weeks maximum.