Crithmum

For other uses of the name samphire, see Samphire.

Samphire
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Asterids
Order:	Apiales
Family:	Apiaceae
Genus:	Crithmum
Species:	C. maritimum
Binomial name
Crithmum maritimum L.

C. maritimum

C. maritimum (habitat)

Crithmum maritimum - MHNT

Crithmum is a genus of flowering plant with the sole species Crithmum maritimum, known as sea fennel, or rock samphire,. Sometimes it maybe called even samphire,but actually samphire refers to a number of succulent halophytes that tend to be associated with water bodies. "Samphire" is a name also used for several other unrelated species of coastal plant. Sea fennel, or Rock samphire, is an edible wild plant. It is found on southern and western coasts of Britain and Ireland, on mediterranean and western coasts of Europe including the Canary Islands, North Africa and the Black Sea.

History, trade and cultivation

In the 17th century, Shakespeare in King Lear referred to the dangerous practice of collecting rock samphire from cliffs. "Half-way down, Hangs one that gathers samphire; dreadful trade!" In the 19th century, samphire was being shipped in casks of seawater from the Isle of Wight to market in London at the end of May each year. Rock samphire used to be cried in London streets as "Crest Marine".

In England, rock samphire was cultivated in gardens, where it grows readily in a light, rich soil. Obtaining seed commercially is now difficult, and in the United Kingdom the removal of wild plants is illegal under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

The reclaimed piece of land adjoining Dover, called Samphire Hoe, is named after rock samphire. The land was created from spoil from the Channel Tunnel, and rock samphire used to be harvested from the neighbouring cliffs.

Culinary use

Rock samphire or sea fennel has fleshy, divided aromatic leaves that Culpeper described as having a "pleasant, hot and spicy taste"

The stems, leaves and seed pods may be pickled in hot, salted, spiced vinegar, or the leaves used fresh in salads.

In Italy, sea fennel pickle in extra virgin olive oil is a typical traditional food of le Marche region. It is known as Paccasassi del Conero and used as an antipasto, to accompany fish and meat dishes and to garnish pizza and sandwiches.

Richard Mabey gives several recipes for rock samphire, although it is possible that at least one of these may refer to marsh samphire or glasswort (Salicornia europaea), a very common confusion.

Properties

Sea fennel has precious hidden nutritional virtues, being rich in healthy substances, such as Vitamin C, Vitamin E, K, iodine, carotenoids and flavonoids. It is also rich in high quality antioxidants and in fatty acids omega -,3.

In the past for the wealth of vitamin C, the consumption of Sea Fennel was particularly common among seafarers as a valuable aid for the prevention of scurvy .

External links

• BBC Gardeners' Question Time – where there is apparently some confusion between the glasswort (marsh samphire, found in Suffolk) and the rock samphire (found in Dorset).
• Biff Vernon discusses the common confusion between marsh samphire and rock samphire, and reproduces a poem on the subject by William Logan.
• Botanical.com
• Rinci.it
• PubMed.gov
• PubMed.gov