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Celery (Apium graveolens dulce) is a herbaceous edible biennial plant in the family Apiaceae, native to the
coasts of western and northern Europe, most commonly in ditches and saltmarshes. It grows to 1 m tall, with
pinnate to bipinnate leaves with rhombic leaflets 3-6 cm long and 2-4 cm broad. The flowers are creamy-white, 2-3
mm diameter, produced in dense compound umbels. The seeds are broad ovoid to globose, 1.5-2 mm long and wide.
In North America, commercial production of celery is dominated by a variety called Pascal celery. Gardeners can
grow a range of cultivars, many of which differ little from the wild species, mainly in having stouter leaf stems.
They are ranged under two classes, white and red; the white cultivars being generally the best flavoured, and the
most crisp and tender.
The wild form of celery is known as smallage. It has a furrowed stalk with wedge-shaped leaves, the whole plant
having a coarse, rank taste, and a peculiar smell. With cultivation and blanching, the stalks lose their acidic
qualities and assume the mild, sweetish, aromatic taste particular to celery as a salad plant.
The plants are raised from seed, sown either in a hot bed or in the open garden according to the season of the
year, and after one or two thinnings out and transplantings they are, on attaining a height of 15-20 cm, planted
out in deep trenches for convenience of blanching, which is affected by earthing up to exclude light from the stems.
In the past, celery was grown as a vegetable for winter and early spring; because of its antitoxic properties, it was perceived as a cleansing tonic, welcomed after the stagnation of winter.
The whole plant is gently stimulant, nourishing, and restorative; it can be liquefied, with the juice taken for joint and urinary tract inflammations, such as rheumatoid arthritis, cystitis, or urethritis, for weak conditions, and for nervous exhaustion.
The seeds, harvested after the plant flowers in its second year, are the basis for a homeopathic extract used as a
diuretic. The extract is believed to help clear toxins from the system, so are especially good for gout, where uric
acid crystals collect in the joints, and arthritis. They are also used as a mild digestive stimulant. The extract
can be combined with almond or sunflower oil, and massaged into arthritic joints or for painful gout in the feet
or toes.
The root is an effective diuretic and has been taken for urinary stones and gravel. It also acts as a bitter
digestive remedy and liver stimulant. A tincture can be used as a diuretic in hypertension and urinary disorders, as
a component in arthritic remedies, or as a kidney energy stimulant and cleanser.
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