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 | Samphire Other Names: Sea Fennel. Crest Marine. Sampier.
Botanical Name: Crithmum maritimum
Family: N.O. Umbelliferae |
Description: |
It is well distinguished by its long, fleshy, bright-green, shining leaflets (full of aromatic juice) and umbels of tiny, yellowish-green blossoms. The whole plant is aromatic and has a powerful scent.
The young leaves, if gathered in May, sprinkled with salt (after freeing them from stalks and flowers), boiled and covered with vinegar and spice, make one of the best pickles, on account of their aromatic taste.
On those parts of the coast where Samphire does not abound, other plants which resemble it in having fleshy leaves are sometimes sold under the same name, but are very inferior.
Samphire gathering is referred to in King Lear:
'Half-way down
Hangs one that gathers samphire; dreadful trade!'
At the present time it grows but sparingly on the white cliffs of Dover, where Shakespeare described it, but in his days it was probably more abundant there. From his description of the perilous nature of the collection of Samphire, it might be assumed that it grows where none but the adventurous can reach it, but it is to be found growing freely in the clefts of the rocks, and is in many places easily accessible from the beach, and is even sometimes to be found in the salt marshes that in some districts fringe the coast.
Samphire is abundantly met with where circumstances are favourable to its growth, around the coasts of western or southern England, but is rarer in the north and seldom met with in Scotland.
The use of Samphire as a condiment and pickle, or as an ingredient in a salad is of ancient date. It used at one time to be cried in London streets as 'Crest Marine.' |
Medicinal Usage: |
In Gerard's time it was in great reputation as a condiment. He wrote in 1597:
'The leaves kept in pickle and eaten in sallads with oile and vinegar is a pleasant sauce for meat, wholesome for the stoppings of the liver, milt and kidnies. It is the pleasantest sauce, most familiar and best agreeing with man's body.'
Culpepper, writing some fifty years later, deplores that it had in his days much gone out of fashion, for it is well known almost to everybody that ill digestions and obstructions are the cause of most of the diseases which the frail nature of man is subject to; both of which might be remedied by a more frequent use of this herb. It is a safe herb, very pleasant to taste and stomach.
In some seaside districts where Samphire is found, it is still eaten pickled by country people. |
Ancient Lore: |
SAMPHIRE (Rock or Small)
CRITHMUM MARITIMUM
It is more agreeable as a pickle than useful as a medicine.
A succulent herb growing on rocks with thick, dull or blueish-green leaves and umbels of yellow flowers.
Where to find it: Fairly common at the coast where it grows on the cliffs, shingle and sandy shores. Flowering time. Midsummer.
Astrology: A herb of Jupiter.
Medicinal virtues: It is well known that indigestion and obstructions are the cause of most of the diseases that the frail nature of man is subject to, both of which might be remedied by a more frequent use of this herb. It is safe, pleasant to the taste and stomach. It provokes urine and helps to take away the gravel and stone engendered in the kidneys or bladder.
Modern uses: Not in general use as a medicine, but it is still pickled and eaten in seaside districts where it grows and where the people know its virtues. The leaves and stalks can be cooked and eaten like Asparagus. |
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