Parsley
Petroselinum crispum
Botanical family: Apiaceae
Petroselinum crispum, two very different varieties: curly (decoration) and flat Italian (preferred in cooking). Rich in vitamin C (~177 mg/100 g, more than the orange), folates, iron. Listed in the French Pharmacopoeia (list A of medicinal plants, for the fruit and the root). To be avoided in very large quantity in pregnant women (apiole, uterotonic action at high dose). Sources: Ciqual table (ANSES) for the figures; French Pharmacopoeia, list A of traditionally used medicinal plants.
Partial shade
Rich, cool
Regular, cool soil, never left to dry out
Biennial (-15 °C)
Overwinters in your zone
Role in permaculture
A biennial apiaceae (leaves the 1st year, flowers the 2nd, then the plant dies). The 2nd-year flowering is very attractive to helpers (hoverflies, ichneumons). A classic companion of the tomato and the asparagus.
Good companions
Poor companions
Traditional avoidance (antagonism not demonstrated)
Insects attracted or useful
Seasons & availability
March to November, and under cover in winter.
Available: March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November.
Guidance for the oceanic / temperate climate; it may vary with your region, altitude, exposure and growing method.
Sources
- RHS, « How to Grow Parsley » (rhs.org.uk/herbs/parsley/grow-your-own)
- La Ferme de Sainte Marthe, « Réussir la culture du persil » (fermedesaintemarthe.com/en/blogs/comment-reussir-la-culture-de/reussir-la-culture-du-persil)
Nutritional & medicinal properties
For educational purposes. Not a substitute for medical advice. Effects depend on the form, the dose and personal context.
Precautions & contraindications
Parsley essential oil and very concentrated extracts contain apiole, abortifacient and nephrotoxic at high dose. To be AVOIDED absolutely in pregnancy in concentrated form. The vitamin K richness of parsley can interfere with vitamin-K-antagonist anticoagulants (Sintrom, Préviscan) if eaten in large regular quantities. Culinary use as seasoning: no concern.
In the kitchen & the apothecary
Where to find parsley in preparations: recipes and traditional herbal teas.
Family behaviour: Apiaceae
In general, Apiaceae are umbel plants (carrot, parsley, celery, coriander, dill) whose flowers attract precious beneficials: hoverflies, ichneumons, parasitoids. Fairly easy to pair, except fennel, they are useful along edges to feed beneficials.
Understanding families means learning one rule per family rather than every pairing one by one. Learn more →
Species & varieties
The best-known species and varieties in France.
Common varieties
Voices of peoples
Paraphrases attributed to their documented sources. Never an invented quote.
Ancient Greece, Pindar (Isthmian VIII) and Hyginus (Fabulae) · Panhellenic sanctuaries of Nemea (Zeus) and the Isthmus of Corinth (Poseidon)
The victor's crown of the Nemean Games, and that of the Isthmian Games in the archaic period, was plaited from selinon (wild celery): Pindar sings of 'the Dorian celery crown' won in the Isthmian vale. The founding myth links this plant to the death of the child Opheltes, renamed Archemoros ('he who opens the way to fate/death') after a snake killed him while his nurse was guiding the Seven against Thebes; the heroes instituted the Nemean Games as funeral games in his honour. In Hyginus, the nurse had laid the child on a bed of wild celery, which tradition ties to the Nemean crown.
Pindare, Isthmiques VIII, v. 63-64 (couronne d'ache aux Isthmia) ; Hygin, Fabulae 74 ; fondation des Jeux Néméens attestée chez Bacchylide, Apollodore (Bibliothèque 3.6.4) et les scholies à Pindare (Néméennes).
Two caveats. (1) Botany: here again selinon = wild celery, not Petroselinum crispum; the Isthmian crown later passed from selinon to pine. (2) A doubtful attribution, set aside: the widespread claim that 'parsley (or celery) sprang from the blood of Archemoros' has NO support in the ancient sources; it's a modern folkloric embroidery. Hyginus speaks of a child laid ON the celery, not of a plant born from his blood. This entry was verified via secondary reference sources (Pindar cited by published ethnobotany, synthesis of the ancient sources) rather than by a direct reading of the primary Greek/Latin texts.