Apium graveolens var. rapaceum
Origin: Kirkuk, Iraq
Improvement status: Landrace
Seeds per packet: ~40
BOTANICAL SAMPLE - NOT GERMINATION TESTED
Life cycle: Biennial (or possibly Perennial)
This rare celery from Kirkuk, Iraq, is quite unusual. It's considered a celeriac — or celery root variety — by the USDA, but it does not make a large, round, solid root. Instead, it produces a few small central root masses surrounded by long thin roots that are also edible and tasty (see photos). So it seems safe to assume this could be considered a rather primitive celeriac, at best, if not a cutting celery (or "smallage"). Its leaves and petioles (the part of typical celery that we eat), do not resemble typical celery, but are much like other varieties of celeriac or smallage. They are also much more strongly flavored than typical celery. Some plants have reddish pigmentation toward the base of the petioles. Like other celery varieties, it produces lots of tiny, flavorful seeds (excellent for pickles or coleslaw). This plant is a biennial, but there's some indication it may have perennial tendencies as well (as some plants continued making new green growth after seed production), so we urge growers to keep an eye on the plants and please save seeds from any that manage to survive through two winters.
The USDA's National Plant Germplasm System has maintained these seeds since 1958, when they were submitted to the system for conservation by a USDA plant breeder named Paulden F. Knowles — best known as the father of the American safflower industry (valued over $50 million) for his work developing the thistle-like little aster into a major oilseed crop. Between the late 1950s and mid-1960s, Knowleds traveled over 32,000 miles with his wife and son overland through Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia, primarily to collect safflower seeds and wild safflower relatives. Along the way, he also collected seeds from many other species (including castor bean, mustard, kenaf, sesame, onion, coriander, flax, corn, sorghum, chickpea, lentil, radish, basil, and much more). Some 1,350 of his collections are stll available in the USDA system. He collected this celery in the Kirkuk bazaar in 1958.
Kirkuk is today considered one of the major cities of northern Iraq, with a population of over one million. It is also considered something of a microcosm for the country at large, due to the highly diverse nature of its populace. Famously a crossroads for various civilizations, the main ethnic groups are Kurds, Arabs, and Turkmen, but there are also Armenians, Assyrians (who speak their own Turkish dialect and practice Chaldean Catholicism), Jews (or, at least, there were Jews until most emigrated to Palestine), and others. The discovery of oil in the Kirkuk region in the 1920s led to its subsequent exploitation (from the 1930s to the present day) and caused huge changes to the city, which had previously been predominantly Turkmen in character. Kurds are today the largest ethnic group in Kirkuk, and have long tried to have the city included in the northern Kurdistan region, but Turkmen and Arab peoples have opposed this, leading to a disputed status for over 80 years. Yet despite this, Kirkuk has seen relatively less violence than other parts of Iraq.
GROWING TIPS: Direct sow celery on the surface of a good seed-starting mix a few weeks before last frost date for your area. Keep well watered. Once seedlings have a few leaves, you can up-pot them or plant them in their final location. Space plants at least 8 inches apart.
