| Author | (Persoon) Sprague ex Britton & Wilson | |
| Distribution | Found throughout the southeastern part of the Coastal Plain, from Tyrrell County south to SC and then northwest to the Sandhills and Anson County (iNat photo). Very scattered in the northern part of the Coastal Plain, plus a few counties in the eastern Piedmont (native there?).
This is a Southern species whose northern part of the range is open to question in terms of provenance. Weakley (2018) assigns states from NC to TX with designations of uncertain provenance. For now, the website will treat the species as native in NC, at least northward to about Tyrrell County; and south to FL and west to TX.
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| Abundance | Uncommon to fairly common in the southern Coastal Plain, and very rare northward. The website editors for now give a State Rank of S3, though of course it could be listed as SE? (perhaps exotic). | |
| Habitat | This is a ruderal species, mostly in sandy soil. It grows along sandy roadsides, and other dry clearings; however, it can grow in ditches and marshes. |
| Phenology | Blooms from April to early June, and fruits in June and July. | |
| Identification | This is a rather slender species, usually with a branch or two in the upper portions -- reaching 1.5-2 feet tall. The scattered and alternate leaves are multi-compound, but are cut into extremely slender segments, essentially filamentous; each leaf is about 3-4 inches long, but each filament is only about 1/2-inch long. The several umbels grow from the stem opposite a leaf, on a short stalk -- such that a given plant has scattered small umbels of white flowers up and down the stem, rather than all toward the top of the plant. Spermolepis divaricata is somewhat similar, and it also grows in sandy and weedy soil, but its umbels are mostly terminal on the many branches. | |
| Taxonomic Comments | Most older references named this species as Apium leptophyllum.
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| Other Common Name(s) | Fir-leaved Celery, Slender Celery | |
| State Rank | S2? [S3] | |
| Global Rank | G5 | |
| State Status | | |
| US Status | | |
| USACE-agcp | FAC link |
| USACE-emp | FAC link |
