STURTEVANT S NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS 57 



extending to France and England. Targioni-Tozzetti states, however, as a certainty 

 that celery was grown in Tuscany in the sixteenth century. The hollow celery is stated 

 by Mawe ' to have been the original kind and is claimed by Cobbett,'' even as late as 

 182 1, as being the best. 



The fint celeries grown seem to have differed but little from the wild plant, and the 

 words celery and (cultivated) smallage were apparently nearly synonymous at one time, 

 as we find cultivated ache spoken of in 1623 in France and at later dates petit celeri or 

 celeri 4 couper, a variety with hollow stalks, cultivated even at the present time for use 

 of the foliage in soups and broths. Among the earlier varieties we find mention of hol- 

 low-stalked, stalks sometimes hollow, and solid-stalked forms; at the present time the 

 hollow-stalked forms have been discarded. Vilmorin' describes twelve sorts as distinct 

 and worthy of culttire in addition to the celeri d. couper but in all there is this to be noted, 

 there is but one type. 



In Italy and the Levant, where celery is much grown, but not blanched, the green 

 leaves and stalks are used as an ingredient in soups. In England and America, the stalks 

 are always blanched and used raw as a salad or dressed as a dinner vegetable. The seeds 

 are also used for flavoring. In France, celery is said by Robinson * never to be as well 

 grown as in England or America. By cultivation, celery, from a suspicious if not poisonous 

 plant, has become transformed into the sweet, crisp, wholesome and most agreeable culti- 

 vated vegetable. 



A. graveolens rapaceum DC. celeriac. turnip-rooted celery. 



Europe, Orient, India and California. This variety of celery forms a stout tuber, 

 irregularly rounded, frequently exceeding the size of one's fist, hence it is often termed 

 turnip-rooted celery. In France, it is commonly grown in two varieties. The tuber, 

 generally eaten cooked, is sometimes sliced and used in salads. In Germany, it is com- 

 monly used as a vegetable, cooked in soups or cooked and sliced for salads. In England, 

 celeriac is seldom grown. In this country, it is grown only to a limited extent and is used 

 only by our French and German population. When well grown, these bulbs should be 

 solid, tender and delicate. 



In 1536, Ruellius,' in treating of the ache, or unoiltivated smallage as would appear 

 from the context, says the root is eaten, both raw and cooked. Rauwolf,^ who travelled 

 in the East, 1573-75, speaks of Eppich, whose roots are eaten as delicacies, with salt and 

 pepper, at Tripoli and Aleppo; and J. Bauhin,' who died in 1613, mentions a Selinum 

 ttiberosutn, sive Buselini specient, as named in Honorius Bellus, which seems to be the first 

 mention of celeriac, as the earlier references quoted may possibly refer to the root of the 

 ordinary sort, although probably not, for at this date the true celery had scarcely been 



' Mawe and Abercrombie Univ. Card. Bot. 1778. 



Cobbett, W. Amer. Card. 129. 1846. 



Vilmorin Us PI. Potag. 74. 1883. 



Robinson, W. Parks, Card. Paris 496. 1878. 



Ruellius Nat. Slirp. joS. 1536. 



Gronovius Fl. Orient. 35. 1 755. 

 'Bauhin, J. Hist. PI. 2: pt. 3, loi. 1651. 



