water shield (Brasenia schreberi)
An aquatic plant with mucilaginous young shoots, used in Japanese cuisine. The more common name is 蓴菜 (じゅんさい). This reading ぬなわ is archaic or literary.
See also: ジュンサイ
In old texts, 沼縄 (ぬなわ) is recorded as an ancient name for water shield.
Rare kanji spelling; the plant is more commonly written as 蓴菜 (じゅんさい) or simply in kana.
Single-character form; extremely rare and likely only encountered in classical or botanical contexts.
The derivation of ぬなわ is uncertain. The kanji 沼縄 literally mean 'marsh rope', possibly describing the plant's long, rope-like stems in marshy water.