Curiouser and curiouser

Everyone misses home at some point.
Or some particular aspect of home...for me, it's PHO.
Goodness! I simply cannot wait until my next bowl.

But, interestingly, I was thinking of the herbs traditionally served with pho: bean sprouts, Thai basil, cilantro, and...what my family calls "see saw" leaf, but what is known to the rest of the world as "saw leaf." Here's a picture!

The sharp, rough edges on the leaves makes it  (apparently) simple to see why people call it "saw."
In Vietnamese, it's called "ngo gai," and my family calls it this too! We're not silly all the time! :)

Musings: The botanical name is eryngium foetidum, but is also known by some other names: culantro, saw-leaf, saw-tooth, thorny coriander, and Mexican coriander.
Mexican coriander? I wonder how an herb that I and probably every Vietnamese person on the planet associate with pho also has the name "Mexican coriander." It's native to continental tropical America and the West Indies, so how did it make its way across continents to Asia? Or has saw leaf always been a part of atraditional Vietnamese pho meal, versus beingjust a thing for Vietnamese-Americans?

Here's a study I need to read later: http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/proceedings1999/v4-506.html