''Apium'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

, as currently circumscribed by

Plants of the World Online Plants of the World Online (POWO) is an online taxonomic database published by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. History Following the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew launched Plants of the World Online i ...

, of 12

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

s in the family

Apiaceae Apiaceae () or Umbelliferae is a family of mostly aromatic flowering plants named after the type genus ''Apium,'' and commonly known as the celery, carrot, or parsley family, or simply as umbellifers. It is the 16th-largest family of flowering p ...

, with an unusual highly disjunct distribution with one species in the temperate Northern Hemisphere in the

Western Palaearctic The Western Palaearctic or Western Palearctic is part of the Palaearctic realm, one of the eight biogeographic realms dividing the Earth's surface. Because of its size, the Palaearctic is often divided for convenience into two, with Europe, North ...

(

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, western

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

, north

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

), and the rest in the temperate Southern Hemisphere in southern Africa, southern

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, and

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. They are prostrate to medium-tall annual, biennial or

perennial In horticulture, the term perennial ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. It has thus been defined as a plant that lives more than 2 years. The term is also ...

herbs growing up to 1 m high in wet soil, often

marsh In ecology, a marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous plants rather than by woody plants.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p More in genera ...

es and

salt marsh A salt marsh, saltmarsh or salting, also known as a coastal salt marsh or a tidal marsh, is a coastal ecosystem in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and open saltwater or brackish water that is regularly flooded by the tides. I ...

es, and have pinnate to bipinnate

leaves A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, stem, ...

and small white

flower Flowers, also known as blooms and blossoms, are the reproductive structures of flowering plants ( angiosperms). Typically, they are structured in four circular levels, called whorls, around the end of a stalk. These whorls include: calyx, m ...

s in compound

umbel UMBEL (Upper Mapping and Binding Exchange Layer) is a logically organized knowledge graph of 34,000 concepts and entity types that can be used in information science for relating information from disparate sources to one another. It was retired ...

s. Some species are edible, notably '' Apium graveolens'', which is the wild ancestor of the commercially important

vegetable Vegetables are edible parts of plants that are consumed by humans or other animals as food. This original meaning is still commonly used, and is applied to plants collectively to refer to all edible plant matter, including edible flower, flo ...

celery Celery (''Apium graveolens'' Dulce Group or ''Apium graveolens'' var. ''dulce'') is a cultivated plant belonging to the species ''Apium graveolens'' in the family Apiaceae that has been used as a vegetable since ancient times. The original wild ...

celeriac Celeriac (''Apium graveolens'' Rapaceum Group, synonyms ''Apium graveolens'' Celeriac Group and ''Apium graveolens'' var. ''rapaceum''), also called celery root, knob celery, and turnip-rooted celery (although it is not a close relative of the ...

and leaf celery. The genus is the

type genus In biological taxonomy, the type genus (''genus typica'') is the genus which defines a biological family and the root of the family name. Zoological nomenclature According to the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, "The name-bearin ...

of the family Apiaceae and the order Apiales; the type species of the genus is ''Apium graveolens''.

Species

, Plants of the World Online accepts the following species: *Western Palaearctic **'' Apium graveolens'' L. - wild celery *Australia **'' Apium annuum'' P.S.Short **'' Apium insulare'' P.S.Short - Flinder's Island celery **''

Apium prostratum ''Apium prostratum'', commonly known as sea celery, is a variable herb native to coastal Australia and New Zealand. The leaves are variable, with toothed leaflets, and a celery like aroma. The tiny white flowers occur in clusters. There are tw ...

'' Labill. ex Vent. (also in New Zealand, southern Africa, and southern South America) - sea celery *New Zealand **''Apium prostratum'' Labill. ex Vent. (also in Australia, southern Africa, and southern South America) - sea celery *Southern Africa **''Apium prostratum'' Labill. ex Vent. (also in Australia, New Zealand, and southern South America) - sea celery *Southern South America **'' Apium australe'' Thouars **'' Apium chilense'' Hook. & Arn. **'' Apium commersonii'' DC. **'' Apium fernandezianum'' Johow **'' Apium larranagum'' M.Hiroe **'' Apium panul'' (Bertero ex DC.) Reiche **''Apium prostratum'' Labill. ex Vent. (also in Australia, New Zealand and southern Africa) - sea celery **'' Apium santiagoensis'' M.Hiroe **'' Apium sellowianum'' H.Wolff

Former species

Species formerly placed in this genus include: *''Apium bermejoi'' → '' Helosciadium bermejoi'' *''Apium inundatum'' → '' Helosciadium inundatum'' - lesser marshwort *''Apium leptophyllum'' → '' Cyclospermum leptophyllum'' - marsh parsley, or fir-leafed celery *''Apium nodiflorum'' → '' Helosciadium nodiflorum'' - fool's-water-cress *''Apium repens'' → '' Helosciadium repens'' - creeping marshwort

Ecology

''Apium'' species, including garden celery, are eaten by the

larva A larva (; : larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into their next life stage. Animals with indirect development such as insects, some arachnids, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase ...

e of some

Lepidoptera Lepidoptera ( ) or lepidopterans is an order (biology), order of winged insects which includes butterflies and moths. About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera have been described, representing 10% of the total described species of living organ ...

species including angle shades,

common swift The common swift (''Apus apus'') is a medium-sized bird, superficially similar to the barn swallow or Common house martin, house martin but somewhat larger, though not stemming from those passerine species, being in the order Apodiformes. The re ...

, '' Hypercompe icasia'', the nutmeg, setaceous Hebrew character and turnip moth.

References

Apioideae genera Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus {{Apiaceae-stub