DCHP-1 Online
wild celery 
1 an aquatic plant, Vallisneria spiralis, having long, ribbonlike leaves; tape grass.
See also: eel grass
- 1853 The canvass-back . . . feeds upon the roots of . . . a species of "tape-grass" .. . botanically called "Valisneria," after the Italian botanist, Antonio Valisneri. . . . Its roots are white and succulent, and bear some resemblance to celery--hence the plant is known among duck-hunters as "wild celery."
- 1957 Groups of Indian women gather berries; also wild celery, the roots of rushes, and the inner bark of the poplar--all which they eat raw
- 1962 Greedily they suck up the wild celery, water lilies and swamp-grass roots.
2 See 1925 quote.
- 1925 WILD CELERY. Lomatium utriculatum, Nutt. In the very early spring, in fact as soon as the snow is off the ground, the young sprouts . . . are sought for amongst the broken rocks on hillsides which constitute the natural habitat of this plant. . . . It is a good imitation of the cultivated Celery, but becomes rather pungent as it grows old.
- 1853 The canvass-back . . . feeds upon the roots of . . . a species of "tape-grass" .. . botanically called "Valisneria," after the Italian botanist, Antonio Valisneri. . . . Its roots are white and succulent, and bear some resemblance to celery--hence the plant is known among duck-hunters as "wild celery."