Apium prostratum, commonly known as sea celery, is a variable herb

Herb

Except in botanical usage, an herb is "any plant with leaves, seeds, or flowers used for flavoring, food, medicine, or perfume" or "a part of such a plant as used in cooking"...

 native to coastal Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. The leaves are variable, with toothed leaflets, and a celery like aroma. The tiny white flowers occur in clusters.

There are two varieties:

• Apium prostratum var. prostratum - Headland Sea Celery, squat with broad leaves and grows on coastal dunes and headlands.
• Apium prostratum var. filiforme - Mangrove Sea Celery, upright with fine leaves and grows in swamps.

Uses

Sea celery was an important vegetable for early Australian explorers and colonists. Captain Cook ate sea celery at Botany Bay

Botany Bay

Botany Bay is a bay in Sydney, New South Wales, a few kilometres south of the Sydney central business district. The Cooks River and the Georges River are the two major tributaries that flow into the bay...

, and it was commonly eaten by colonists as a survival food in the early days of the Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

 colony. Both leaf and stem are eaten. Dried leaves are used in native Australian spice

Spice

A spice is a dried seed, fruit, root, bark, or vegetative substance used in nutritionally insignificant quantities as a food additive for flavor, color, or as a preservative that kills harmful bacteria or prevents their growth. It may be used to flavour a dish or to hide other flavours...

 mixes. It tastes much the same as celery and is used to flavour soups. Variety filiforme is considered to be more palatable.

It was first cultivated by colonists around Albany

Albany, Western Australia

Albany is a port city in the Great Southern region of Western Australia, some 418 km SE of Perth, the state capital. As of 2009, Albany's population was estimated at 33,600, making it the 6th-largest city in the state....

, Western Australia

Western Australia

Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

, as a vegetable. It is commercially cultivated to a limited extent.