Growers of Apium insulare

[boylesg]

Has anyone noticed any invasive tendancies in this species?

Was thinking of introducing it to community gardens but I don't want to unleash an aus native environmental weed.

[Bluetongue]

I've grown it in the ground and in pots for the last 6 years or so, with no self-seeding or spreading.

[boylesg]

I've grown it in the ground and in pots for the last 6 years or so, with no self-seeding or spreading.

Thanks Bluey.

[roughbarked]

I've grown it in the ground and in pots for the last 6 years or so, with no self-seeding or spreading.

Did you actually allow it to make seed? If so, did you try to collect the seed or allow it to fall on the ground?

Apium graveolens and Apium leptophyllum are widespread cosmopolitan weeds in Australia.

[boylesg]

I've grown it in the ground and in pots for the last 6 years or so, with no self-seeding or spreading.

Did you actually allow it to make seed? If so, did you try to collect the seed or allow it to fall on the ground?

Apium graveolens and Apium leptophyllum are widespread cosmopolitan weeds in Australia.

Yes I did allow mine to go to seed and collected some of them. So far a few seeds have germinated but it is nothing remotely like native Epilobium that is a weed through my tubes.

[Bluetongue]

I'm sorry that I missed the question addressed to me earlier.

I've always collected some of the ripened seed and allowed others to fall. I can't recall a single instance of self-seeding, but that could be due to extensive mulching.

[Bluetongue]

I'm glad that the weed potential of this plant is being discussed. I remember being told that it was a native to the Bass Strait islands (even this was up for debate), and the Melbourne area is obviously not part of this range. Thanks roughbarked for naming two other Apium species that are weeds.

There are plenty of other plants that self seed in my garden, including rainbow chard, but I know that each plant has specific needs and that the Island Celery may well self seed happily in someone else's yard.

[roughbarked]

each plant has specific needs and that the Island Celery may well self seed happily in someone else's yard.

Yep. There is a possibility. Maybe this would not be a bad thing, maybe it would.

However the real issue is that we have enough problems now controlling the rampant weeds. It is time we stopped moving stuff around.
I know we are all gardeners and it is all interesting to us. However if we were to be able to survive in the bush.. we'd have to do a lot of walking and swimming to get to many of the bushfood plants discussed here.
We'd probably die on the way. So it really is a lot more worthwhile that we learn about and cultivate those bush foods that occur within our own regions. People living on Flinders Island and Lord Howe Island may actually be able to make a living selling the herb.

[boylesg]

I've grown it in the ground and in pots for the last 6 years or so, with no self-seeding or spreading.

Did you actually allow it to make seed? If so, did you try to collect the seed or allow it to fall on the ground?

Apium graveolens and Apium leptophyllum are widespread cosmopolitan weeds in Australia.

As far as I have been able to determine both these species are Eurasian in origin.

If any folks here happened to have read Tim Flannery's "The Future Eaters", and probably many other books of a similar vane, you would realise that invasivensess is a particular characteristic of many European species due to the prevailing ecological conditions there.

However, due to the fundamentally different prevailing ecological conditions in Australia for hundreds of thousands of years, invasiveness is quite a rare characteristic in Australian plants.
That is why they are under such threat from Euroasian and African species in particular.

This pretty much confirms what I have come to know from bush crew work, at least in my little corner of this continent. About the only Aus native weeds that I regularly deal with are Pittosporum undulatum, Sollya heterophylla (far less frequently) and a hand full of wattles including Cootamundra. But they never seem to be any where near as overwhelming as Gorse and Cape Broom etc infestations.

Now that is not proof that Apium insulare does not have invasive potential, but it is an indication that it is unlikely. Assuming that an ancestor has not recently been deposited on the Bass Strait Islands by a migratory birds from Europe......probably also unlikely since the seeds of Apiums don't seem to have characteristics that make it likely that they will adhere to feathers readily.

I recently found Apium prostratum growing wild of the primary sand dunes of Anglesea so I guess there is a chance that Apium insulare could do quite well in that situation if it occupies a similar niche on the Bass Strait Islands.

But unless some one has had experience with this species that says different, I have my doubts that it would be capable of displacing the Apium protratum that is growing all over the primary dunes and Anglesea for example. And even if it did displace some of it a still can't see being much worse than that exotic sea rocket. There is a fair bit of this around but it doesn't seem to dominate vast areas of the dunes from what I have seen of it.

The fact is Apium prostratum has good potential to replace exotic celery to some extent - it seems to be far more drought tolerant than latter. I have learned myself that some times it is necessary to be a little pragmatic about the small number of exotic weeds that we depend on for food.

[roughbarked]

I'm not attempting to argue that is is a weed. I'm simply suggesting that it is possible.
People move stuff about all the time and hybrids occur as well as species naturalise in new locales. This can be quite detrimental in cases where say only a handful of rarer species are still in existence, such as the Mongarlowe mallee Eucalyptus recurva. A project to conserve and propagate the five remaining individual plants has had very little chance of success with seedlings since it is more likely that any seed from the existing trees will be hybridised than true to the species due to a lack of enough trees for pollination and an abundance of other species which may cross pollinate.

In what ways is Apium insulare a suitable replacement for commercial celery?
If you are going to convince the market and the growers, you'll need to have some concrete evidence. Yes I believe that drought hardiness is a very useful factor as commercial celery growers use huge volumes of water. I would like to do trials myself but I don't have seed.

[boylesg]

I'm not attempting to argue that is is a weed. I'm simply suggesting that it is possible.
People move stuff about all the time and hybrids occur as well as species naturalise in new locales. This can be quite detrimental in cases where say only a handful of rarer species are still in existence, such as the Mongarlowe mallee Eucalyptus recurva. A project to conserve and propagate the five remaining individual plants has had very little chance of success with seedlings since it is more likely that any seed from the existing trees will be hybridised than true to the species due to a lack of enough trees for pollination and an abundance of other species which may cross pollinate.

In what ways is Apium insularae a suitable replacement for commercial celery?
If you are going to convince the market and the growers, you'll need to have some concrete evidence. Yes I believe that drought hardiness is a very useful factor as commercial celery growers use huge volumes of water. I would like to do trials myself but I don't have seed.

May be the two native Apiums could hybridise but I am of the opinion that is unlikely to have any major detrimental ecological effects, beyond human conservation aesthetics. Apium prostratum is by no means rare judging by Anglesea. It would surely be a lot less serious than say Gazania Daisies taking over the sand dunes instead, e.g. around Torquay apparently.

You wouldn't be eating the stalks of Apium insulare raw like we do regular celery. The entire stem has the same strong bitter taste as regular celery leaves, and you can only eat a small amount of them before it becomes to much. I am thinking that they would be ideal in cooking where the strong taste would be beneficial, and you would probably need a smaller amount than regular celery.

If you want some seeds I would be happy to post your some. As I said I already have heaps and my plants are still producing them in quantity.

[roughbarked]

I'm not attempting to argue that is is a weed. I'm simply suggesting that it is possible.
People move stuff about all the time and hybrids occur as well as species naturalise in new locales. This can be quite detrimental in cases where say only a handful of rarer species are still in existence, such as the Mongarlowe mallee Eucalyptus recurva. A project to conserve and propagate the five remaining individual plants has had very little chance of success with seedlings since it is more likely that any seed from the existing trees will be hybridised than true to the species due to a lack of enough trees for pollination and an abundance of other species which may cross pollinate.

In what ways is Apium insularae a suitable replacement for commercial celery?
If you are going to convince the market and the growers, you'll need to have some concrete evidence. Yes I believe that drought hardiness is a very useful factor as commercial celery growers use huge volumes of water. I would like to do trials myself but I don't have seed.

May be the two native Apiums could hybridise but I am of the opinion that is unlikely to have any major detrimental ecological effects, beyond human conservation aesthetics. Apium prostratum is by no means rare judging by Anglesea. It would surely be a lot less serious than say Gazania Daisies taking over the sand dunes instead, e.g. around Torquay apparently.

You wouldn't be eating the stalks of Apium insulare raw like we do regular celery. The entire stem has the same strong bitter taste as regular celery leaves, and you can only eat a small amount of them before it becomes to much. I am thinking that they would be ideal in cooking where the strong taste would be beneficial, and you would probably need a smaller amount than regular celery.

If you want some seeds I would be happy to post your some. As I said I already have heaps and my plants are still producing them in quantity.

Quite obviously, Gazania is already widely established as a weed infestation of large parts of populated Australia, as are many south African and Mediterranean plants.
Apium prostratum does not occur in my region so there will be no problem with any of my trials impacting upon the integrity of that species.
All I'd need is some seed.

Though celeriac is available and a well known cooking favourite and celery seed is also in ample supply in the herbal sections of supermarkets. I'm always open to new flavouring herbs.

We only get to eat regular celery raw because of these facts;
more water than is used growing rice
heaps of force feeding with fertilisers
and a strong emphasis on blanching the stems during cultivation.

Try growing it without the above and it is almost inedible raw, due to the very strong flavour.

[Bluetongue]

Hey Greg, do you still have plenty of seed for this plant? Would you be willing to post me some?

[boylesg]

Happy to post you some Apium seeds Bluetongue.

Don't have any Podocarpus by any chance do you?

Also would you be able to collect some Macadamia fruit from that tree near you. About 100 of them would be good. Happy to post you a prepaid Postpak to put them in.

[Bluetongue]

Thank you! Have messaged you with details.