Last edited on 27 Jan 2021. View history

Smallage

Apium graveolens

Also known as soup celery (en) wild celery (en)

A variety of celery

How to sow smallage: Sow seeds indoors 10-12 weeks before transplanting outdoors

Sun requirement for smallage: Plant in Full Sun

The wild form of celery is known as "smallage". It has a furrowed stalk with wedge-shaped leaves, the whole plant having a coarse, earthy taste, and a distinctive smell. The stalks are not usually eaten (except in soups or stews in French cuisine), but the leaves may be used in salads, and its seeds are those sold as a spice.

With cultivation and blanching, the stalks lose their acidic qualities and assume the mild, sweetish, aromatic taste particular to celery as a salad plant.

1: planting
0: harvests
1: seed packet

Growstuff is a free, community-run site for people who grow food. Keep track of what you plant and harvest, find seeds to swap, and see what is growing near you. Join to record your own smallage.

Growing smallage

Annual

living and reproducing in a single year or less

How members grow smallage

Sunniness

Planted from

Plant smallage with

red cabbage

Photos

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Who's planted smallage

Syzygium container · Montreal

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Ecological requirements

Data from the FAO EcoCrop database for Apium graveolens L.

Family / Taxonomy	Magnoliopsida Rosidae Apiales Umbelliferae
Optimal temperature	15 - 21 °C
Absolute temperature	5 - 25 °C
Optimal rainfall	700 - 1300 mm/year
Absolute rainfall	500 - 1500 mm/year
Optimal soil pH	6.0 - 6.8
Absolute soil pH	5.5 - 7.5
Crop cycle	40 - 150 days
Max altitude	2000 m
Life form	herb
Life span	biennial
Habit	erect
Optimal soil depth	shallow (20-50 cm)
Optimal soil texture	medium, organic
Optimal soil fertility	high
Optimal soil drainage	poorly (saturated >50% of year), well (dry spells)
Optimal soil salinity	medium (4-10 dS/m)
Optimal light	cloudy skies to clear skies

Licensed under CC-BY-4.0 .

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025) ECOCROP, the crop ecological requirements database. Version 1. https://data.apps.fao.org/catalog/dataset/ecocrop. Accessed through the CGIAR Climate Action Data Hub, https://cgiar-climate-data-hub.github.io/catalog/ecocrop_1/.

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