Flora canaria > Especies silvestres
Apium nodiflorum
Apium nodiflorum (L.) Lag.
Familia
APIACEAE
Berra, Berraza, Berrera
Apium nodiflorum, commonly known as ‘berraza’, ‘berrera’ or ‘bastard celery’, is a perennial, aquatic or semi-aquatic herbaceous plant belonging to the Apiaceae family. It is native to Western Europe and the Mediterranean region, where it grows wild in very damp environments.
It grows on the banks of rivers, streams, irrigation channels, springs and marshy areas with clean, fresh-water currents.
It has hollow, grooved stems up to 100 cm long, which tend to lie flat and take root at the lower nodes. Its leaves are pinnate, composed of paired leaflets with distinctly serrated margins.
Its flowers are small and white, grouped in characteristic umbels that emerge opposite the leaves with virtually no peduncle (hence the term ‘nodiflorum’, meaning ‘flowers at the node’).
It has traditionally been used as a wild vegetable (eaten raw in salads or cooked) and in folk medicine for its diuretic properties.
However, extreme caution is required: it shares its habitat with, and is very easily confused with, common watercress, but above all with highly toxic plants from the same family (such as lesser hemlock or Berula erecta and oenanthus). Foraging for it for consumption is not recommended without advanced botanical knowledge.
La Palma, La Gomera, Tenerife, Gran Canaria
Berra, Berraza, Berrera
Apium nodiflorum, commonly known as ‘berraza’, ‘berrera’ or ‘bastard celery’, is a perennial, aquatic or semi-aquatic herbaceous plant belonging to the Apiaceae family. It is native to Western Europe and the Mediterranean region, where it grows wild in very damp environments.
It grows on the banks of rivers, streams, irrigation channels, springs and marshy areas with clean, fresh-water currents.
It has hollow, grooved stems up to 100 cm long, which tend to lie flat and take root at the lower nodes. Its leaves are pinnate, composed of paired leaflets with distinctly serrated margins.
Its flowers are small and white, grouped in characteristic umbels that emerge opposite the leaves with virtually no peduncle (hence the term ‘nodiflorum’, meaning ‘flowers at the node’).
It has traditionally been used as a wild vegetable (eaten raw in salads or cooked) and in folk medicine for its diuretic properties.
However, extreme caution is required: it shares its habitat with, and is very easily confused with, common watercress, but above all with highly toxic plants from the same family (such as lesser hemlock or Berula erecta and oenanthus). Foraging for it for consumption is not recommended without advanced botanical knowledge.
La Palma, La Gomera, Tenerife, Gran Canaria
