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Apiaceae FAMILY

Apium graveolens dulce

Apium graveolens dulce

Edibility
4/5
Medicinal
2/5

Safety & Hazards

If the plant is infected with the fungus Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, skin contact with the sap can cause dermatitis in sensitive people[1].

Cultivation Details

HabitBiennial
Growth—

A plant of the temperate zone, where it is found at elevations up to 2,000 metres. It grows best in areas where annual daytime temperatures are within the range 18 - 25°c, but can tolerate 4 - 28°c[2]. When dormant, the plant can survive temperatures down to about -5°c, but young growth can be severely damaged at -1°c[2]. It prefers a mean annual rainfall in the range 1,000 - 1,300mm, but tolerates 300 - 2,800mm[2]. Plants grow best in a climate with a mean temperature in the range 16 - 21°c, leaf growth is poor at higher temperatures whilst low temperatures can induce the plant to run to seed prematurely. Celery normally requires a cold period of at least one month with a temperature below 16°c before flower initiation occurs, but a few days at 4 - 10°c will often cause 75% of plants to bolt[2]. Prefers a rich light moist soil with some shade in summer[3, 4, 5, 6]. Prefers a sunny position and a pH between 6.6 and 6.8[7]. Prefers a pH in the range 5.8 - 6.8, tolerating 4.5 - 8.3[2]. Celery is commonly cultivated in many regions of the world, mainly for its edible leaf stalks. There are many named varieties and these can supply fresh stalks from late summer to spring[8, 9]. There are two basic types of celery. Those grown for summer and autumn harvesting are called 'self-blanching' - the stems do not need to be blanched in order to be eaten, though they are usually grown quite closely together which tends to exclude quite a bit of light. Those cultivars harvested in the winter and spring tend to have bitter-tasting stems unless these are blanched by excluding light. Expected yields of plants are 38 - 63 tonnes per hectare[2].

Propagation

Seed - germination can be erratic and the seed is best surface sow late winter in a greenhouse. The maincrop can be sown as late as mid spring. Outdoor sown seed rarely germinates satisfactorily[7]. Germinates in 2 - 3 weeks at 15°c. Plant out in late spring. The seed can harbour certain diseases of celery, it is usually treated by seed companies before being sold but if you save your own seed you should make sure that only seed from healthy plants is used[3]. Cite as: Temperate Plants Database, Ken Fern. temperate.theferns.info. 2026-02-20. <temperate.theferns.info/plant/Apium+graveolens+dulce>

Pollinators

Flies, Self

References

  1. [1]A Colour Atlas of Poisonous Plants. — Frohne. D. and Pfänder. J. · Wolfe · 1984 · ISBN 0723408394 ↩︎Brilliant. Goes into technical details but in a very readable way. The best work on the subject that I've come across so far.
  2. [2]Ecocrop — http://ecocrop.fao.org/ecocrop/srv/en/home ↩︎Basic information on a wide range of useful plants, plus details of environmental needs where available.
  3. [3]RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 — F. Chittendon. · Oxford University Press · 1951 · ISBN - ↩︎Comprehensive listing of species and how to grow them. Somewhat outdated, it has been replaced in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [ 200 ]).
  4. [4]New Vegetable Growers Handbook. — Simons. · Penguin · 1977 · ISBN 0-14-046-050-0 ↩︎A good guide to growing vegetables in temperate areas, not entirely organic.
  5. [5]The Vegetable Garden. — Vilmorin. A. · Ten Speed Press · ISBN 0-89815-041-8 ↩︎A reprint of a nineteenth century classic, giving details of vegetable varieties. Not really that informative though.
  6. [6]The Gardener's Assistant. — Thompson. B. · Blackie and Son. · 1878 · ISBN - ↩︎Excellent general but extensive guide to gardening practices in the 19th century. A very good section on fruits and vegetables with many little known species.
  7. [7]The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. — Huxley. A. · MacMillan Press · 1992 · ISBN 0-333-47494-5 ↩︎Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.
  8. [8]Dictionary of Economic Plants. — Uphof. J. C. Th. · Weinheim · 1959 · ISBN - ↩︎An excellent and very comprehensive guide but it only gives very short descriptions of the uses without any details of how to utilize the plants. Not for the casual reader.
  9. [9]Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. — Facciola. S. · Kampong Publications · 1990 · ISBN 0-9628087-0-9 ↩︎Excellent. Contains a very wide range of conventional and unconventional food plants (including tropical) and where they can be obtained (mainly N. American nurseries but also research institutes and a lot of other nurseries from around the world.
  10. [10]Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World. — Hedrick. U. P. · Dover Publications · 1972 · ISBN 0-486-20459-6 ↩︎Lots of entries, quite a lot of information in most entries and references.
  11. [11]The Herb Book. — Lust. J. · Bantam books · 1983 · ISBN 0-553-23827-2 ↩︎Lots of information tightly crammed into a fairly small book.
  12. [12]The Reference Manual of Woody Plant Propagation. — Dirr. M. A. and Heuser. M. W. · Athens Ga. Varsity Press · 1987 · ISBN 0942375009 ↩︎A very detailed book on propagating trees. Not for the casual reader.
  13. [13]Edible and Medicinal Plants. — Launert. E. · Hamlyn · 1981 · ISBN 0-600-37216-2 ↩︎Covers plants in Europe. a drawing of each plant, quite a bit of interesting information.
  14. [14]Economic Botany. — Hill. A. F. · The Maple Press · 1952 · ISBN - ↩︎Not very comprehensive, but it is quite readable and goes into some detail about the plants it does cover.
  15. [15]Encyclopaedia of Herbs and their Uses. — Bown. D. · Dorling Kindersley, London. · 1995 · ISBN 0-7513-020-31 ↩︎A very well presented and informative book on herbs from around the globe. Plenty in it for both the casual reader and the serious student. Just one main quibble is the silly way of having two separate entries for each plant.
  16. [16]A Modern Herbal. — Grieve. · Penguin · 1984 · ISBN 0-14-046-440-9 ↩︎Not so modern (1930's?) but lots of information, mainly temperate plants.
  17. [17]Encyclopaedia of Medicinal Plants. — Chiej. R. · MacDonald · 1984 · ISBN 0-356-10541-5 ↩︎Covers plants growing in Europe. Also gives other interesting information on the plants. Good photographs.
  18. [18]The Dictionary of Modern Herbalism. — Mills. S. Y. ↩︎An excellent small herbal.
  19. [19]The Encyclopedia of Medicinal Plants — Chevallier. A. · Dorling Kindersley. London · 1996 · ISBN 9-780751-303148 ↩︎An excellent guide to over 500 of the more well known medicinal herbs from around the world.
  20. [20]Companion Planting for Successful Gardening. — Riotte. L. · Garden Way, Vermont, USA. · 1978 · ISBN 0-88266-064-0 ↩︎Fairly good.
  21. [PFAF]Plants for a Future — pfaf.org ↩︎