wild celery

wild celery

water hemlock

grown in gardens to use in culinary or medicinal preparations.
members of the Apiaceae include parsley, celery, corriander, fennel, caraway, angelica, carrot, pignut, hogweed, dropworts, cow parsley and hemlock. Several of the plants are beneficial to man , but some are not. Indeed some have caused many fatalities. Most are familiar with parsley either as a garden plant or as a herb sold in supermarkets, the rest need time spent on them to be sure of correct identification. One such as example of this is Apium graveolens the wild celery, from which many garden varieties have been produced. It is a plant of marshy situations and also thrives near rivers and similar places. every part of this plant smells strongly of celery which gives rise to its species name of graveolens which indicates a strong smell. The leaves of this plant were employed in salads and soups and the seeds {dried} were used to decorate celery bread.
Medicinally they were said to be a stimulent, diuretic, tonic, nervine, and to aid a good nights sleep. However, this species is attacked by a fungi Sclerotinia sclerotiorium which can cause shin problems if contact with the sap occurs. it is also recommended that pregnant women avoid medicinal preparations containing celery.
A plant that is often mistaken for wild celery is hemlock water dropwort -Oenanthe crocata, a common plant that grows in similar situations. The mature stems are superficially similar to those of the celery as are the leaves. However, this plant is one of Britain's most poisonous species and many fatalities have been associated with it. When the Irish lads were over digging out the canal systems of England the stems of this plant were mistaken for celery on more than one occasion causing deaths among the workers.It does not need to be consumed in large amounts to cause agonising pain, vomiting, and convulsions that together can lead to loss of life. The hemlock water drop wort ,therefore will be described in more detail. The plant is stout 3-5 feet high with hollow, furrowed stems that are tough but hairless. The stems are thick and erect with many branches. When the stem is cut or broken it emits a yellow coloured sap that will stain the hand. As mentioned the foliage is superficially similar to those of celery in shape. The lowest leaves have short stalks but they do grow large and tend to spread, they are broadly triangular in outline and pinnate. The leaflets are stalk-less roughly one and a half to two centimetres and are diamond shaped ie, wedged at the base.They have irregular lobes and of a dark green colour on the upper surface and a paler almost shiny green on the under surface.
The upper foliage is much smaller and almost sessile the segments being narrow and sharper. where the leaf stalks join the stem they are sheathed a characteristic of all this family. The roots of the plant are perennial by nature and fleshy, of a light colour. They consist of clusters of tubers which are similar to those of the Dahlia which most gardeners will be familiar with