ˈwater-ˌparsley
1. A name for Sium latifolium (water-parsnip), Apium graveolens (wild celery), or other aquatic umbellifers.
| 1562 Turner Herbal ii. (1568) 32 Syon is..so lyke Selino or Apio..that som haue taken it for Elioselino, and haue named it waterpersely. Whiche name were good to be receyued..that the herbe myght y⊇ better ther by be knowen, then bi y⊇ name of belragges. 1578 Lyte Dodoens v. xlvii. 610 Of water Parsly..There is founde in this Countrie two kyndes of this herbe, one great, the other smal. Ibid. 611 (headings of figures) Lauer Crateuæ, Great water Parsely. Lauer minus, Small water Parsely. 1597 Gerarde Herbal ii. ccclxxxi. 862 Smallage..is called..in English March Marish Parsley, and Apium aquatile, or water Parsley; but Hydroselinum, or Sium maius, is the true water Parsley. 1611 Cotgr., Berle, the great water Parsenip, great water Parsely; called also, Belders, and Bell-rags. 1891 [D. Jordan & Mrs. J. A. Owen] Ann. Fishing Village xi. 105 Water⁓cress and a thick growing plant they called water-parsley. |
2. The tropical American herb Richardsonia scabra (white ipecacuanha, Mexican clover).
| 1891 Century Dict. |