Samphire

Samphire (Crithmum), a genus of plants of the natural order Umbelliferae; having compound umbels, and an oblong fruit, rather flattened at the back, with five winged ridges, and many vittæ spread all over the seed. Common Samphire (C. maritimum) is a perennial, native of Europe, growing chiefly on rocky cliffs near the sea. It is rare in Scotland, but common in the south of England, and so late at least as March 1886 was still gathered on Dover cliffs, as it was in Shakespeare's day (King Lear, IV. vi. 15). Its radical leaves are trimerate; those of the stem have lanceolate and fleshy leaflets. The stem is about 1½ feet high, the flowers yellow. Samphire makes one of the best of pickles, and is also used in salads. It has a piquant, aromatic taste, and is considered very diuretic. It is generally gathered where it grows wild, but is sometimes very successfully cultivated in beds of sand, rich earth, and rubbish, occasionally supplied with a little salt. Inuta Crithmoides, a perennial plant, allied to Elecampane (q.v.), and of the natural order Compositeæ, a native of the sea-coasts of England, is used in the same way as samphire, and is often called Golden Samphire. The young shoots of Salicornia herbacea (see GLASSWORT) are also substituted for it as a pickle, and sold under the name of Marsh Samphire.