Parsley is documented in many old herbals and was revered for its medicinal uses as well as for sacred and superstitious reasons. Master herbalist Dioscorides, who published De Materia Medica in 70AD, named parsley ‘rock celery’ because the undomesticated plant grew amongst rocks. The genus name comes from the Greek petros, meaning rock, and selinon, meaning celery. It has a long history of use in cooking as well as being popular as a digestive tonic, diuretic and general healing plant.

Parsley root has a particular affinity for the urinary tract. Like its close relative celery seed it is said to increase the elimination of uric and other acid metabolites and so it has a particular application for gouty, arthritic conditions. In his book, The Essential Book of Herbal Medicine, Simon Mills says: “…the root of the plant was seen as one of the best cleansers of the ‘liver, spleene and belly’, used for jaundice and general epigastric disorders.”

In the 1930s it was mentioned in the classic book A Modern Herbal, the first comprehensive encyclopaedia of herbs to appear since the days of Culpeper (1600s). The author Maude Grieve said a strong decoction of the root is of great service in gravel, stone, congestion of the kidneys, dropsy (oedema) and jaundice. She said a fluid extract of the root acts more readily on the kidneys than that from other parts of the herb. Culpepper himself said “Galen commended it against falling sickness, and to provoke urine mightily; especially if the roots be boiled, and eaten like parsnips.” Parsley was also considered a useful galactagogue stimulating both the amount and flow of breastmilk.

References

Quave, C.L. Quave Research Group Website. Version 11.0, April 2015. Petroselinum crispum (Mill.), Apiaceae  Ellen Chiang  [Internet]; 2015 [accessed Aug 26 2022]. Available from etnobotanica.us/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Plant-Monograph-Book-4.2013.pdf

Mills S. The Essential Book of Herbal Medicine. Penguin:London. 1991. p.473

Grieve M. A Modern Herbal. Penguin:London; 1980. p. 611-14