A wild relative of cultivated celery. A plant that tastes like the coast. This plant grows on beaches and salt marshes throughout New Zealand. The leaves and stems have a strong celery flavour and can be used in cooking, soups and salads. It is more strongly flavoured than cultivated celery and should be used sparingly. It was an important green vegetable for early Māori and European settlers. A plant that fed the people who lived by the sea. The plant has finely divided, fern-like leaves that are bright green and glossy. The stems are hollow and ribbed, similar to cultivated celery but thinner and more delicate. The small, white flowers are arranged in compound umbels, a characteristic of the carrot family. The plant flowers in summer, producing seeds that are dispersed by wind and water. Native celery grows in saline or brackish conditions that would kill most plants. It has specialised adaptations for living in the coastal zone, including thick, waxy leaves that reduce water loss and salt glands that excrete excess salt. The plant can tolerate occasional inundation by seawater, but it cannot survive permanent submersion. The species is an important component of coastal ecosystems. It stabilises sand dunes and salt marshes, preventing erosion. Its roots bind the soil, and its foliage provides shelter for small animals. To find native celery is to walk the high tide line on a sandy beach. The beach is windy. The native celery grows, fern-like and glossy, strong celery smell in the air. A leaf is picked and tasted. The flavour is strong, salt-tinged. The plant does not know it fed the people. It does not know it holds the dune together. It just wants to grow where the land meets the water. That is where it belongs.