Apium nodiflorum

European marshwort

Family: Apiaceae · Type: perennial · Not Native

European marshwort is a naturalized perennial found in the central Coast Ranges around Albany and eastern San Francisco Bay in wet places at elevations generally below 1,000 meters. Flowering from May to August, this plant produces small white flowers in delicate umbrella-like clusters with 10 to 20 unequal rays. Growing 1.5 to 10 decimeters tall with stems that root at lower nodes, it spreads easily in moist environments. Its compound leaves feature oblong blades with 6-centimeter leaflets that are lanceolate to ovate, with crenate edges and a distinctive terminal three-lobed structure. The tiny fruits are ovate-oblong, measuring 1.5 to 2 millimeters in diameter.

Habitat: Wet places

Bloom period: May-Aug

Elevation: generally < 1000 m

Bioregions: CCo (Albany), e SnFrB (reported from Niles Canyon, Alameda Co., 1933)

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.