Your gateway to a wide range of natural resources information and associated maps

Victorian Resources Online

  1. Landform
  2. Land Use
  3. Soil
  4. Land and Water Management
    1. Catchment Management
    2. Invasive Plants
    3. Land Degradation
    4. Irrigated Agriculture
    5. Catchment Hydrology
    6. Salinity Indicator Plants
      1. Common Name
      2. Scientific Name
      3. Common Family Name
      4. Scientific Family Name
      5. Key to Families or Genera
      6. Salinity in the Loddon Murray Region
      7. Salinity in the Central and Northern Victorian Region
      8. Salinity in the Western Region
      9. Salinity in the Wimmera Region
      10. Salinity in the Mallee Region
      11. Salinity in the Gippsland Region
      12. Salinity in the Coastal Region
    7. Salinity Management
    8. Declared Water Supply Catchments

Sea Celery

Back | Salinity Indicator Plants Home | Common name home | Scientific name home | Photo Gallery | Glossary

Sea Celery photos

Scientific Name: Apium prostratum
Sea Celery plant
Plant of Sea Celery
Photo: A J Brown

Status:
Native to all Australian States. Also found in New Zealand and South America.

Plant Description:
Prostrate and sprawling, multi-stemmed, biennial or perennial, with branches from
30-70 cm long. Pinnatisect (finely pinnate) leaves 2-40 cm long (longer at the base) and each segment 2-7 mm wide. Flowers in small clusters (or umbels) 3.5-7 cm wide, either without stalks or on short stalks to 20 mm long. Petals oval-shaped to 0.8-1.5 mm long
and white. Fruit obovate to circular, 1.3-2.5 mm long with 5 thick ribs to each segment, obscuring the furrows between the ribs. Flowering Spring-summer.

Habitat:
Found mostly on the edges of coastal saltmarsh and sea cliffs but sometimes extending along brackish inland creeks. Tolerates moderate salinity, provided soils are damp to waterlogged.
RegionSalinity ClassWaterlogging Class
*Western, *GippslandS0, S1, S2W2, W3
*mainly confined to coastal areas but also garden grown

Comments:
Similar to Annual Celery (Apium annuum) which is generally a smaller erect plant with branches to 20 cm long only, pinnate leaves to 5 cm long only and fruit with noticeable furrows between the ribs. Two varieties of Apium prostratum are recognised. Variety prostratum has long linear to lanceolate leaves or leaf segments, 6-15 times longer than wide. Variety filiforme has divided leaflets with elliptic, ovate or obovate segments, 2-3 times longer than wide.

Sea Celery Photos

Sea Celery leaves
Leaves of Sea Celery var. prostratum
Photo: A J Brown
Sea Celery leaves and stems
Stem, leaves and developing flower heads of Sea Celery var. prostratum
Photo: A J Brown

Flowers of Sea Celery
Flowers of Sea Celery
Photo: A J Brown

Yellowed mature leaves of Sea Celery
Yellowed mature leaves of Sea Celery var. prostratum
Photo: A J Brown

Sea Celery var. filiforme
Leaves of Sea Celery var. filiforme
Photo: A J Brown

Developing fruit of Sea Celery
Developing fruit of Sea Celery
Photo: A J Brown

Page top

For information about DJPR please contact:

Phone: 136 186

National Relay Service: 133 677 or relayservice.gov.au

Email: customer.service@ecodev.vic.gov.au

Online: Contact us

Copyright

Privacy

Disclaimer

Accessibility
Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions - State Government of Victoria

© State of Victoria (Agriculture Victoria) 1996 - .

Creative Commons License

This work, Victorian Resources Online, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. You are free to re-use the work under that licence, on the condition that you credit the State of Victoria (Agriculture Victoria) as author, indicate if changes were made and comply with the other licence terms.


The licence does not apply to ‘branding’ or some ‘images or photographs’ that may be owned by third parties. We ask you to seek prior approval to use images using the VRO feedback form. Access to higher quality images can also be provided on request.


This page was last updated on .