HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



i93 



NOTES ON CELERY AND OTHER SMALL SALADS, 



By H. G. GLASSPOOLE. 



ELERY {Apium graveo- 

 Icns) belongs to the 

 Umbellifene order of 

 plants, and in its wild 

 form is found growing 

 in ditches and marshes 

 near the sea, in Europe 

 and in Britain, where it 

 is known under the 

 name of Smallage ; but 

 in this state it is wholly 

 unfit for food, having a peculiar coarse rank taste and 

 smell, being considered poisonous to man, and is not 

 even relished by animals. Cultivation, however, has 

 transformed this suspicious plant into one of the most 

 agreeable and wholesome of all our esculents. This 

 species of Apium appears to have been known to the 

 •ancients, for it was reckoned by them as one of the 

 greater aperient roots, and Pliny states that it hath 

 a peculiar virtue against the biting of venomous 

 spiders. There is no account from which we can 

 gather that the ancient Greeks and Romans were 

 -acquainted with the method of bleaching this plant, 

 and thus rendering it fit for food. By most of our 

 old herbalists, it is mentioned under the name of 

 Smallage, and only used by them as a medicinal 

 plant. Gerard tells us that the leaves of it boiled in 

 hog's-grease and made into the form of a poultice, 

 taketh away the pain of whitlows on the fingers, and 

 healeth them. Culpeper recommends that the juice 

 ■of this plant, mixed with honey of roses and barley- 

 water, be used as a gargle by those who suffer with 

 sores and ulcers in the throat and mouth. Bartho- 

 lomseus Lorn, in his " Botanologia," (published in 

 1 7 14), mentions that the roots and seeds of Apium 

 were used medicinally in his day. This esculent 

 appears to have been cultivated for the table at the 

 early part of the seventeenth century, for John Ray, 

 the celebrated botanist of that period, says that, if 

 this plant is neglected, it will degenerate into its first 

 unpalatable state. We are indebted to the Italians 

 No. 165. 



for the method of its cultivation, and also for its 

 name. Evelyn, in his " Acetaria " (published 1699), 

 says " Sellery was formerly a stranger with us, 

 and not very long since, in Italy itself." He tells 

 us that it is not a distinct species of Smallage, 

 or Macedonian parsley, though, by its frequent 

 transplanting, somewhat more hot and generous, and 

 sweeter-scented. We have, he says, " the best seeds 

 from Italy, whose tender leaves and blanched stalks 

 do well in our sallets, as likewise the slices of the 

 whitened stems, which being crisp and short, first 

 peeled and slit longwise, are eaten with vinegar, oil, 

 salt, and pepper. And for its high and grateful taste 

 is ever placed in the middle of the grand sallet, at 

 our great men's tables and Pnetors' feasts, as the grace 

 of the whole board." In our oldest seed-lists we find 

 that two varieties of celery were introduced from 

 Italy under the name of Red and White upright 

 Italian celery. It is stated in the " Monthly Maga- 

 zine and British Register," for July, 1797, that the 

 seed of a new sort of celery, from the island of 

 Samos, had been introduced into the county of Nor- 

 folk, which grew to the height of three feet, and 

 possessed other superior properties. Celery may be 

 grown to a very large size, for Loudon states that, in 

 1815, a plant was taken up at Longford, near Man- 

 chester, which weighed 9 lb. when washed, with 

 the root and leaves still attached to it, and measured 

 4 feet 6 inches in height. It was of the red sort, 

 perfectly solid, crisp, and firm, and remarkably well- 

 flavoured. There is a variety of this plant called 

 Celerica, or Turnip-rooted celery {Apium graveole its 

 napazeum) ; it is more hardy than the upright varieties : 

 of this the root is the only part used. It attains to a 

 considerable size, especially in Germany, where it is . 

 much esteemed, both prepared by itself and in con- 

 junction with other herbs as a salad. It rarely forms 

 an object of cultivation in English gardens. Sir 

 Joseph Banks and Dr. Solander found in considerable 

 quantities, on the coast of Terra del Fuego, wild 

 celery, which appears to be possessed of wholesome 



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