Apiastrum angustifolium Nutt.   Apiaceae (Carrot Family)   Native   Wild Celery     Mock Parsley

                                            March Photo

Plant Characteristics:  Smooth branching annual, stems slender, 0.5-5 dm. long, erect; lvs. 2-5 cm. long, ternately finely dissected; umbels naked, sessile; sepals obsolete; rays unequal, 1-5 cm. long; petals white; peduncles 0-1.5 cm. long; rays 2-3, pedicels few, unequal, spreading; fr. ellipsoid cordate, 1-1.5 mm. long, the ribs inconspicuous; stylopodium depressed; styles short; oil tubes solitary in the intervals and beneath the ribs, 2 on the +/- concave commissural side.

Habitat:  Common in dry sandy valleys and on slopes below 3000 ft.; Coastal Sage Scrub, Chaparral, etc.; cismontane from San Diego Co. n.; L. Calif.; occasional at desert edge; on Santa Catalina, San Clemente, Santa Barbara, Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz Ids.  March-April.

Name:  Apium, the ancient Latin name for celery and Latin, aster, wild.  (Munz, Flora So. Calif. 71).  Greek, leptos, slender, thin, small and phyllon, leaf.  (Jaeger 139,196).  Probably referring to the slender leaf segments.

General:  Occasional in the study area.  Photographs taken along the road from the Newporter Inn to San Joaquin Hills Dr. (my comments).     The wild celery, a small, fragile hairlike plant, which bears no resemblance to table celery, provided a small seasonal food source in wet years to the Cahuilla, the Indians of the San Bernardino Mountains and Colorado Desert.  (Bean 39).       My observations of the plants in the upper bay are that they are more robust than described here and are bitter to the taste.  (my comments).       One species in the genus.  (Munz, Flora So. Calif. 71).

Text Ref:  Collins 60; Hickman, Ed. 141; Munz, Calif. Flora 1010; Munz, Flora So. Calif. 71; Roberts 7.

Photo Ref:  Mar 2 85 # 15,16.

Identity: by R. De Ruff, confirmed by F. Roberts.

Computer Ref:  Plant Data 137.

Have plant specimen.

Last edit 6/2/06.

                                            March Photo