Medicinal Plants : Apium graveolens

Name

Celery

Biological Name

Apium graveolens
Umbelliferae

Other Names

Celery, Celery Seeds, Smallage, Garden celery, wild celery

Parts Used

Dried ripe fruits, Root, leaves

Active Compounds

Volatile oil, containing d-limonene, with a-selinene, santalol, a- and b-eudesmol, dihydrocarvone.

Phthalides; mainly 3-n-butylphthalide, ligustilide, sedanolide, and sedanenolide.

Coumarins; bergapten, isoimperatorin, isopimpinellin, apiumoside & celeroside.o Flavonoids; apiin and apigenin

Fixed oil, fatty acids.

Remedies For

Seeds: Anti-rheumatic, anti-inflammatory, diuretic, carminative, anti-spasmodic, nervine, sedative.

Plant: appetizer, diuretic, emmenagogue.

The expressed juice of the plant, particularly the fleshy petioles, is the most effective form of medicine. It can be used for dropsy, rheumatic tendencies, gout, tendencies toward overweight, flatulence, chronic pulmonary catarrh, lack of appetite, and deficiency diseases. it is a strong diuretic which is not to be used when acute kidney problems exist (moderate use is allowable when kidney problems are chronic).

Celery also promotes the onset of menstruation; take it only in moderate amounts during pregnancy. As a salad vegetable or made into a tea, celery can be helpful also in clearing up skin problems. A decoction of the seeds can be used for bronchitis, rheumatism, and as a sedative for nervousness. A yellowish oil extracted from the root can restore sexual potency impaired by illness.

Indications : Treatment of rheumatism, arthritis and gout. Rheumatoid arthritis where there is an associated mental depression. Their diuretic action is involved in rheumatic conditions. Also used as a urinary antiseptic, largely because of the volatile oil apiol.

In rheumatic conditions celery seeds combine well with Bogbean. They also appear to work better in combination with Dandelion.

Description

Celery is a widely cultivated, biennial plant which also grows wild in salty soils of North and South America, Europe, and Africa. The fleshy, bulbous root sends up, in the second year, an angular, furrowed, branched stem from 1 to 3 feet high. Celery leaves are opposite, dark green, shiny, and pinnate, the leaflets wedge-shaped, incised, coarsely toothed. The white to gray- white flowers bloom from July to November. The fruit is a small, ribbed, elliptic-ovate seed.

Dosage

Infusion: Pour a cup of boiling water onto 1-2 teaspoonfuls of freshly crushed seeds. Leave to infuse for l0-l5 minutes. This should be drunk three times a day.

Decoction: Use 1/2 tsp. seeds with ½ cup of water; boil briefly and strain.

Juice: Take 1 tbsp., two or three times a day, an hour before meals. An electric vegetable juicer makes fresh celery juice easy to extract.

Mixes well with-carrot and apple juice. Due to its high sodium content, use less than you do of the carrots and apples, if blood pressure is high.

Oil. Take 6 to 8 drops in water, two times a day

Tincture: 1-4 ml three times a day.

Safety

Some herbs are known to react with your medication. Please consult your physician before starting on any herb.