Plutarch may have misunderstood the Roman word "apium" or confounded it with the Greek.
"Plutarch's Lives Volume III."
Plutarch
There was the punder, or pound-man, who looked after the repair of the fences and impounded stray cattle; the cementarius, or stonemason; the custos apium, or bee-keeper, an important person, as much honey was needed to make the sweetened ale, or mead, which the villagers and their chiefs loved to imbibe; and the steward, or prepositus, who acted on behalf of the lord, looked after the interests of the tenants, and took care that they rendered their legal services.
"English Villages"
P. H. Ditchfield
It is known also as apium nodiflorum, from apon, water, and contains "pastinacina," in common with the wild Parsnip.
"Herbal Simples Approved for Modern Uses of Cure"
William Thomas Fernie