Vietnamese Coriander
A tropical trailing herb with pointed leaves bearing a distinctive chevron pattern, tasting like cilantro with citrus and pepper notes.
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Meet Vietnamese Coriander
A tropical trailing herb with pointed leaves bearing a distinctive chevron pattern, tasting like cilantro with citrus and pepper notes. Vietnamese coriander thrives in wet, shaded conditions and does not bolt in heat, making it a reliable cilantro substitute in hot climates. Propagate easily from stem cuttings placed in water or moist soil.
When to plant Vietnamese Coriander
Vietnamese coriander is almost exclusively propagated from stem cuttings, as the plant rarely sets viable seed in cultivation. Take 4-6 inch stem cuttings from healthy, actively growing plants. Remove the lower 2-3 sets of leaves and place cuttings in a glass of water on a bright windowsill. Roots develop within 7-14 days. Alternatively, insert cuttings directly into moist potting soil and keep consistently wet. Cuttings root readily at any node that contacts moist soil. Once rooted, transplant to larger containers or garden beds. Division of established clumps in spring is another reliable propagation method.
Your Vietnamese Coriander Year
Composed for Zone 7 · typical seasons · frost passes Apr 2, returns Nov 1
Sow Vietnamese Coriander Apr – Jun, pick May – Oct. Set your climate below and every date on this plate re-times itself.
How to grow Vietnamese Coriander
Vietnamese coriander (Persicaria odorata) is a tropical perennial herb that thrives in warm, humid conditions with partial shade and consistently moist to wet soil. Unlike true cilantro, it never bolts to seed in hot weather, making it an indispensable cilantro substitute for tropical and subtropical gardeners. Start plants from stem cuttings, as seeds are rarely available commercially. Take 4-6 inch cuttings from healthy stems, remove lower leaves, and place in a glass of water or directly into moist potting soil.
Plant in partial shade to full shade with rich, humus-laden soil that retains moisture well. Vietnamese coriander grows naturally along stream banks and in marshy areas, so it performs best with consistently wet conditions. It also thrives in shallow standing water, making it suitable for bog gardens, rain gardens, and the edges of ponds. In containers, use a saucer filled with water beneath the pot to maintain constant moisture.
The plant spreads by trailing stems that root at every node, quickly covering the ground in a lush mat of pointed, lance-shaped leaves marked with a characteristic dark chevron pattern. Pinch growing tips regularly to encourage branching and prevent the sprawling stems from becoming leggy. In zones 9-12, Vietnamese coriander is perennial; in cooler climates, grow it as an annual or bring containers indoors before frost.
36 plants fit a 4 × 8 ft bed
Each Vietnamese Coriander wants 25 cm of elbow room. The planner keeps that spacing for you — every plant, every bed.
Vietnamese Coriander's best neighbours
Vietnamese coriander thrives alongside other moisture-loving tropical herbs like mint, water spinach, and water celery. It makes an excellent ground cover beneath taller tropical plants such as lemongrass, galangal, and banana, where it benefits from the dappled shade. Plant near ponds or water features where the consistently moist conditions suit its needs perfectly. Avoid planting in dry, exposed beds alongside drought-tolerant Mediterranean herbs like rosemary and thyme, which require opposite growing conditions.
Thai Basil belongs beside it.
Old growers' knowledge, checked against Vietnamese Coriander's real companion table below — test any plant you're growing.
Related growing guides
Feed it well
Vietnamese coriander requires rich, moisture-retentive soil with a pH of 5.5-7.0. Amend planting areas with generous amounts of compost, peat moss, or aged manure to increase water-holding capacity. In containers, use a peat-based potting mix with added perlite for some drainage while still retaining moisture. Feed every 2-3 weeks with a balanced liquid fertilizer (10-10-10) or diluted fish emulsion during active growth. The plant is a moderate feeder and responds well to consistent nitrogen supplementation, which promotes lush leaf production. Mulch generously to maintain soil moisture.
Ideal Temperature
Hardiness Zone Compatibility
From seed to harvest, stage by stage
Cutting & Rooting
Vietnamese coriander is propagated almost exclusively from stem cuttings, as it rarely produces viable seed outside the tropics. Cuttings 10-15 cm long with at least 3-4 nodes are placed in water or moist soil. White adventitious roots emerge from the submerged nodes within 3-7 days, and new leaf buds begin to swell at the upper nodes shortly after rooting begins.
Establishment
Rooted cuttings establish a root system and begin producing new leaves from the growing tip and lateral buds. The stems are soft, jointed, and slightly swollen at the nodes. New leaves unfurl with the characteristic lance shape and dark chevron marking. Growth is initially upright before the stems begin to lean and spread outward.
Vegetative Growth
Plants enter a phase of rapid, vigorous growth, producing multiple branching stems that spread outward and root at every node touching moist soil. The foliage becomes dense and lush, with leaves reaching their full size of 5-10 cm. The stems become semi-woody at the base while remaining soft and succulent at the growing tips. The cilantro-like aroma intensifies as the plant matures.
Mature & Spreading
The plant reaches its full sprawling habit, with stems extending 30-60 cm or more in all directions. Nodes that contact soil send down roots, creating an expanding ground cover. In warm climates, the plant grows continuously and can become quite vigorous. Leaf production is prolific, and the plant may produce small, inconspicuous pink flower spikes in late summer under short-day conditions, though these rarely set seed.
Overwintering & Renewal
In tropical and subtropical climates, Vietnamese coriander is a true perennial that grows year-round. In temperate regions, plants must be brought indoors for winter or treated as annuals. Indoor plants slow their growth under shorter days and lower light but continue producing leaves at a reduced rate. In spring, overwintered plants can be cut back hard and moved outdoors to rejuvenate with explosive new growth.
Take cuttings from healthy, vigorous stems and remove the lower leaves. Place in a jar of clean water on a bright windowsill, changing the water every 2-3 days. Once roots are 3-5 cm long, transplant into moist potting mix. Alternatively, insert cuttings directly into damp soil and keep consistently moist under a humidity dome.
Caring for Vietnamese Coriander month by month
What to do each month for your Vietnamese Coriander
July
You are herePeak growing season — plants may spread vigorously. Trim back spreading stems to keep the plant contained, or allow it to naturalize as a ground cover in designated areas. Ensure consistent moisture, as drought stress causes leaves to become small, tough, and less flavorful. Harvest generously for fresh use and for drying.
Know exactly what to do in your garden — every month
One email at the start of each month: what to sow, plant, and tackle right now — for your Vietnamese Coriander and everything growing around it. Plus a short starter course that helps you dodge the classic mistakes.
- What to do, right now
- Matched to your season
- Starter course included
Harvesting Vietnamese Coriander
Begin harvesting Vietnamese coriander leaves as soon as stems are 6-8 inches long, typically 3-4 weeks after planting cuttings. Snip stem tips with 3-4 leaves attached, cutting just above a leaf node to encourage branching. Harvest regularly to maintain compact, bushy growth and prevent stems from becoming woody and less flavorful. Young tender leaves at the growing tips have the best flavor and aroma. The plant produces continuously in warm conditions, providing year-round harvests in tropical climates. Avoid harvesting more than one-third of the plant at once to maintain vigor.
assuming you sow when the window opens — set your real date
Pick Vietnamese Coriander promptly and the plant keeps producing.
Storage & Preservation
Fresh Vietnamese coriander leaves are best used immediately, as they wilt quickly after cutting. Store unwashed stems in a glass of water on the countertop for 2-3 days, or wrap in damp paper towels inside a sealed bag in the refrigerator for up to one week. Vietnamese coriander does not dry well, losing most of its aromatic qualities. For longer preservation, freeze whole leaves flat on a baking sheet, then transfer to airtight freezer bags. Alternatively, blend leaves into a paste with a small amount of oil and freeze in ice cube trays for convenient portioning.
What goes wrong — and the fix
Slugs and Snails
PestIrregular holes chewed in leaves, shiny slime trails on foliage and surrounding soil, damage concentrated on lower leaves near the ground.
Leaf Spot
DiseaseRound brown or dark spots on leaves, yellowing around lesions, progressive leaf deterioration in humid conditions.
Spider Mites
PestFine stippling on leaf surfaces, tiny webbing between leaves, yellowing and bronzing of foliage, reduced plant vigor.
Troubleshooting Common Problems
Wilting and leaf drop are almost always caused by insufficient water; this plant demands constantly moist to wet conditions and cannot tolerate even brief drought. Leggy, sparse growth results from too much shade or failure to pinch growing tips regularly. Fading of the chevron leaf markings can indicate too little light; provide bright filtered light rather than deep shade. In cold climates, plants die back quickly with the first frost; bring containers indoors before temperatures drop below 50°F. Indoor plants may struggle with low humidity; mist daily or place on a pebble tray filled with water.
Growing Tips
- Propagate from stem cuttings, not seeds. Vietnamese coriander rarely flowers outside the tropics and almost never sets viable seed. Simply place a 10-15 cm stem cutting with 3-4 nodes in a glass of water — roots appear within 5-7 days and the cutting is ready to plant once roots reach 3-5 cm.
- Provide partial shade rather than full sun. Unlike most herbs, Vietnamese coriander produces its best-flavored, most tender leaves in dappled light or morning sun with afternoon shade. Full tropical sun causes leaves to become small, tough, and pale — the flavor also suffers in excessive light.
- Keep the soil consistently moist at all times. Vietnamese coriander is a semi-aquatic plant in its native habitat, growing along waterways and in boggy areas. It tolerates brief flooding but does not tolerate drought — dry soil causes rapid leaf drop and woody, unpalatable stems.
- Grow in rich, organic soil amended with plenty of compost. This fast-growing herb is a heavy feeder that rewards generous soil preparation and monthly feeding with a balanced organic fertilizer. Yellowing lower leaves are a sign of nitrogen deficiency.
- Harvest by cutting stems rather than picking individual leaves. Cut stems 15-20 cm from the tip, just above a node. The plant responds by producing two or more new shoots from below the cut, creating an increasingly bushy and productive plant over time.
- Bring plants indoors before the first frost if you live in zones 1-9. Vietnamese coriander is killed by frost and suffers below 10°C (50°F). It overwinters well on a bright windowsill or under grow lights, continuing to produce leaves at a reduced rate throughout the cold months.
- Grow in containers to control spread and allow easy seasonal relocation. Use a pot at least 20 cm wide with drainage holes, filled with rich potting mix. Container growing also makes it simple to move the plant indoors for winter and back outdoors in spring.
- Pinch growing tips regularly to promote branching and prevent the plant from becoming a single long, leggy stem. Each pinch point generates two new shoots, quickly creating a full, bushy plant that produces far more harvestable foliage than an unpinched one.
- Maintain high humidity around the plant, especially when growing indoors in winter. Mist leaves daily, group plants together, or place pots on trays filled with pebbles and water. Low humidity causes leaf edges to brown and curl, and reduces the aromatic oil content that gives the herb its distinctive flavor.
- Use Vietnamese coriander as a warm-weather substitute for cilantro. When summer heat causes true cilantro to bolt and turn bitter within weeks, Vietnamese coriander thrives and produces continuously. The flavor is similar enough to use in any dish calling for fresh cilantro, with an added peppery complexity.
Pick your Vietnamese Coriander
Standard Vietnamese Coriander
The common form found throughout Southeast Asia, with green lance-shaped leaves marked by a dark chevron. The most widely grown and most pungent selection.
Red-Stemmed Form
A variant with reddish-purple stems and more pronounced chevron markings on the leaves. Slightly more ornamental with a comparable flavor profile to the standard type.
Compact Form
A smaller-growing selection better suited to container culture and windowsill growing. Produces shorter internodes and denser foliage.
Fresh Vietnamese coriander sells for $3-6 per small bunch at Asian grocery stores and farmers' markets, with each bunch lasting only 5-7 days in the refrigerator before wilting. A single rooted cutting or small plant costing $3-5 from a nursery produces continuous harvests for months or years. Growing your own ensures a constant supply of the freshest possible leaves — critical for this herb, whose flavor and aroma diminish rapidly after cutting. Over a single growing season, a home-grown plant easily provides the equivalent of $30-60 worth of store-bought bunches.
Quick recipes
Classic Vietnamese Summer Rolls with Rau Ram
30 minFresh, translucent rice paper rolls filled with shrimp, vermicelli noodles, and a generous handful of Vietnamese coriander leaves. These light, refreshing rolls showcase the herb's bright cilantro-citrus flavor at its best, served with a traditional hoisin-peanut dipping sauce.
8 ingredientsMalaysian Laksa with Laksa Leaf
45 minA rich, aromatic coconut curry noodle soup where Vietnamese coriander — known locally as daun kesum or laksa leaf — is both stirred into the broth and piled on top as a fresh garnish. The herb's peppery citrus notes cut through the rich coconut base perfectly.
8 ingredientsVietnamese Coriander and Chicken Salad (Goi Ga)
25 minA bright, punchy Vietnamese salad combining shredded poached chicken with thinly sliced onion, toasted peanuts, and a lavish amount of fresh Vietnamese coriander, all tossed in a tangy lime and fish sauce dressing. Refreshing, herbaceous, and deeply savory.
9 ingredientsCulinary Uses
Vietnamese coriander is essential in Southeast Asian cuisine, adding a complex cilantro-citrus-peppery flavor to pho, spring rolls, laksa, and salads. Tear or chiffonade fresh leaves as a garnish on soups and noodle bowls. The leaves are used raw in Vietnamese table salads alongside mint and perilla. They also complement duck, chicken, and seafood dishes. The flavor intensifies slightly when heated, so add leaves near the end of cooking for the freshest taste.
What's inside
Health Benefits
- Rich in quercetin and other flavonoid antioxidants that research suggests may help reduce chronic inflammation, support cardiovascular health, and protect cells from oxidative damage caused by free radicals.
- Traditionally used across Southeast Asia as a digestive aid — the essential oils in the leaves stimulate gastric secretions and may help relieve bloating, indigestion, and mild stomach discomfort after meals.
- Contains dodecanal, an aldehyde compound with demonstrated antimicrobial activity against certain bacteria including Salmonella — the same compound responsible for the herb's cilantro-like aroma.
- High beta-carotene content (converted to vitamin A in the body) supports healthy vision, skin integrity, and immune function — generous use as a garnish contributes meaningfully to daily vitamin A needs.
- Provides dietary fiber that supports gut microbiome diversity and digestive regularity when consumed regularly as part of the generous herb portions typical in traditional Vietnamese and Malaysian cuisine.
- Contains rutin, a flavonoid glycoside that research indicates may help strengthen blood vessel walls, improve circulation, and reduce the risk of bruising — particularly beneficial for those with fragile capillaries.
Where Vietnamese Coriander comes from
Vietnamese coriander (Persicaria odorata, syn. Polygonum odoratum) is native to the tropical and subtropical regions of Southeast Asia, with its center of origin likely spanning modern-day Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, and southern China. Unlike most culinary herbs, its history is not one of deliberate domestication from wild ancestors but rather of gradual adoption from plants growing wild in damp, shaded habitats along waterways, rice paddies, and forest margins throughout the region.
The herb has been integral to Vietnamese cuisine for centuries, where it is known as 'rau ram' and considered indispensable in dishes like pho, bun, and various salads and spring rolls. Its Vietnamese name literally means 'pungent herb,' reflecting the plant's assertive, complex flavor that combines cilantro-like citrus notes with a distinctive peppery bite. In Vietnam, rau ram is as fundamental to the herb plate served alongside nearly every meal as basil and mint — no proper Vietnamese table is complete without it.
Across the Malay Peninsula and into Singapore, the herb became equally important under the name 'daun kesum' or 'laksa leaf,' earning this title through its essential role in laksa, the beloved coconut curry noodle soup that is a national treasure in both Malaysia and Singapore. The herb spread throughout maritime Southeast Asia along trade routes and migration patterns, becoming established in Indonesian, Thai, Cambodian, and Filipino cuisines under various local names.
Vietnamese coriander reached the West primarily through Vietnamese diaspora communities following the Vietnam War in the 1970s. As Vietnamese restaurants proliferated in the United States, France, Australia, and elsewhere, demand for authentic ingredients grew. By the 1990s, the herb was appearing in specialty Asian markets and herb nurseries in Western countries. Today it is widely available as a potted plant in garden centers across North America, Europe, and Australia, prized both for its culinary value and as an easy-to-grow ornamental with its striking chevron-marked leaves. Its ability to thrive in containers, tolerate shade, and grow year-round indoors has made it one of the most accessible Southeast Asian herbs for home gardeners worldwide.
Vietnamese Coriander: did you know?
Fascinating facts about Vietnamese Coriander
Vietnamese coriander is not related to true coriander (Coriandrum sativum) at all — it belongs to the buckwheat family (Polygonaceae) alongside sorrel, rhubarb, and knotweed. Its common name comes purely from its similar cilantro-like aroma and its popularity in Vietnamese cuisine.
Vietnamese Coriander questions, answered
When should I plant Vietnamese Coriander?
What are good companion plants for Vietnamese Coriander?
What hardiness zones can Vietnamese Coriander grow in?
How much sun does Vietnamese Coriander need?
How far apart should I space Vietnamese Coriander?
What pests and diseases affect Vietnamese Coriander?
How do I store Vietnamese Coriander after harvest?
What are the best Vietnamese Coriander varieties to grow?
What soil does Vietnamese Coriander need?
Is Vietnamese coriander the same as regular cilantro?
Can people who think cilantro tastes like soap eat Vietnamese coriander instead?
Why is my Vietnamese coriander losing leaves and looking leggy?
Can Vietnamese coriander grow in water permanently?
How do I store harvested Vietnamese coriander to keep it fresh?
Is Vietnamese coriander safe to eat in large quantities?
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From the “Overview” sectionPlant these alongside Vietnamese Coriander
More Culinary Herbs
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