Celery

Celery is a cultivated plant belonging to the species Apium graveolens in the family Apiaceae that has been used as a vegetable since ancient times. Celery has a long fibrous stalk tapering into leaves. Celery seed powder is used as a spice. Celeriac and leaf celery are different groups of cultivars of Apium graveolens. Celery leaves are pinnate to bipinnate with rhombic leaflets 3–6 centimetres (1–2+1⁄2 inches) long and 2–4 cm (1–1+1⁄2 in) broad. The flowers are creamy-white, 2–3 mm (3⁄32–1⁄8 in) in diameter, and are produced in dense compound umbels. The seeds are broad ovoid to globose, 1.5–2 mm (1⁄16–5⁄64 in) long and wide. Modern cultivars have been selected for either solid petioles, leaf stalks, or a large hypocotyl. A celery stalk readily separates into "strings" which are bundles of angular collenchyma cells exterior to the vascular bundles. First attested and printed in English as "sellery" by John Evelyn in 1664, the modern English word "celery" derives from the French céleri, in turn from Italian seleri, the plural of selero, which comes from Late Latin selinon, the latinisation of the Ancient Greek: σέλινον, romanized: selinon, "celery". The earliest attested form of the word is the Mycenaean Greek se-ri-no, written in Linear B syllabic script.

Source: Wikipedia