Sea Celery

Apium species.

Sea celery, growing happily along the Great Ocean Road, Victoria, since the Dreamtime. © JPM, 2022.

A fantastic, albeit under-utilised, native Australian herb. Sea celery is delicious!

Names

Sea celery hails from the genus Apium (A.), a close relative of commercial celery, carrot, parsley and parsnip. There are four common native species: A. prostratum is the most common of these, with its inland variant A. prostratum var. filiforme (A. filiforme from hereon) also easily found. A dwarf variety, A. annuum (incorrectly A. annum in T. Low's guide, p.28), is also common in the south. The rarer giant sea celery, A. insulare, rounds out the list of these native celery herbs.

A. graveolens is the botanical name given to commercial (Mediterranean) cultivars of common celery, which originated in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. There is also a New Zealand variant, A. australe (Maori celery), neither of which will be otherwise covered here.

Habitat and Range

Sea celery is largely a coastal herb, being easily found in open, sunny areas among the rocks, escarpments, sand, coastal dunes and low-land scrub on much of Australia's eastern, southern and south-western coastline. It is extremely common along the Great Ocean Road portion of Victoria into South Australia, the Tasmanian coastline and the Bass Straight islands. The inland variant, A. filiforme, can also be found inland along muddy creeks, riverbanks, swamps and watering holes, mostly in the south. It can be grown with ease in well-draining, sandy pots and containers.

Figure 1. Distribution of Apium (all species) across the continent. This map includes non-native, commercial cultivars. Atlas of Living Australia.

Identification

Key Identifying Features

• Stubby, squat plant near the seaside, often growing in cracks, sand or cliffs.

• Short, chunky stems resembling thick parsley

• Glossy leaves, 3-5 cm long, splayed in leaflets of five (rarely, three) resembling parsley

• Small, white, five-petaled flowers in an inflorescence of 10 to more than 50+ flowers appearing in summer (November through January)

• Salty, herbaceous taste similar to parsley, with a bitter aftertaste

The squat, stubby and overall glossy profile of these small herbs is probably the most important identifying feature, although the inland and giant versions differ slightly. The leaves very much resemble parsley, but tend to be thicker and shiny. Flowers are tiny, similar to carrot or parsley, shooting up on stems 2-7 cm in length (30+cm for the giant sea celery) and branching out into multi-floral inflorescence of 10 to more than 50 flowers.

Figure 2. Sea celery, a glossy, squat parsley-like herb (A. prostratum) growing amidst a clump of dried grass. The Grotto, Victoria. © JPM, 2022.

Figure 3. Closeup of the leaf (A. prostratum). The five leaflets are somewhat apparent here. The Grotto, Victoria. © JPM, 2022.

Figure 4. Flower inflorescence of 50 or more flowers on the common sea celery, A. prostratum. Atlas of Living Australia. © Anon., iNaturalist, 2020.

Figure 5. The inland variant, A. filiforme, which has thinner, longer stems and flatter, duller leaves, much more like parsley. Flower inflorescence in this example is 20-30 flowers per stem. Atlas of Living Australia. © KPL, 2020.

Figure 6. The dwarf variant, A. annuum. This species has much smaller inflorescences of 5-10 flowers per stem. Atlas of Living Australia. © B. Lingham, 2021.

Figure 7. Giant sea celery, A. insulare, from the Bass Straight islands, especially Flinders and Lord Howe. Atlas of Living Australia. © J. Esling, 2020.

Culinary Uses

Sea celery is a pungeant, flavourful herb in its own right. It has an intrinsic initial saltiness followed by a bitter aftertaste comparable to flat-leaf Italian parsley. As such, it makes an excellent native substitute for any recipe requiring parsley, such as tabouleh, pastas, soups, stocks and French cuisine. The stems of the giant sea celery, A. insulare, are substantial enough to substitute for celery in dishes such as soups, stocks and bolognaise sauce. Because giant sea celery is rare and limited only to the isolated islands of the Bass Straight and Lord Howe, it is difficult to acquire. It still has not found a niche native produce cultivator willing to exploit this hardy, sand-loving celery replacement since Tim Low made the recommendation in 1988 (p.28).

Give it a try; I guarantee if you love herbs you will be delighted by this salty, fragrant and flavourful native celery.

Look-alike

I found at least one look-alike growing abundantly alongside sea celery during my trek along the Great Ocean Road recently. Bidgee widgee or burnet (Acaena anserinifolia) has leaves similar to sea celery, emerging mostly in ribbed, shiny leaflets of 7 along their fuzzy stems, rather than 3-5 leaflets of sea celery on smooth stems. The puff-ball inflorescences could also be confused with sea celery, although the two are distinctive enough to be discerned; sea celery flowers occur on their own stems, all branching out from a single point into a generally 'flat' or hemispherical plane, rather than a full ball shape like this plant. Bidgee widgee seeds (burrs) also eagerly stick to clothing . This lookalike plant has extremely tough, dry, spiky leaves; sea celery leaves are thick, juicy and succulent by comparison and give off a distinct herbaceous odour when crushed. Bidgee widgee was used in colonial times as a substitute for bohea, a low-grade Chinese tea (Low, 1989: 33) and can still be used for this purpose.

Figure 8. Bidgee widgee or burnet (Acaena anserinifolia) could easily be confused as a sea celery look-alike growing in the same seaside range. Its dried leaves make a delightful tea substitute. Twelve Apostles, Victoria. © JPM, 2022.