Crithmum
Crithmum is a monospecific genus of flowering plant in the carrot family Apiaceae, with the sole species Crithmum maritimum, known as rock samphire,[1][2] sea fennel[1] or samphire.[1] The name "samphire" is also used for several other unrelated succulent halophyte 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 and in the Canary Islands, North Africa and on the coast of the Black Sea.
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!"[3] 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.[4] Rock samphire used to be cried in London streets as "Crest Marine".[5]
In England, rock samphire was cultivated in gardens,[5] where it grows readily in a light, rich soil. Obtaining seed commercially is now difficult, and in the United Kingdom the uprooting of wild plants is illegal under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.[citation needed]
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.[citation needed]
Rock samphire or sea fennel has fleshy, divided aromatic leaves that Culpeper described as having a "pleasant, hot and spicy taste"[6]
