Samphire

Plant Characteristics

Origin:	✈	?

Cultivation

Exposure:	☼	?"?" is not in the list (sun, part-sun, shade, unknown) of allowed values for the "Exposure" property.
Water:	◍	?"?" is not in the list (wet, moist, moderate, dry, less when dormant) of allowed values for the "Water" property.

Scientific Names

Read about Samphire in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture

Samphire (Crithmum maritimum, which see) is the name corrupted from sampier, itself a corruption of the French Saint Pierre (St. Peter), given to a succulent-stemmed half-hardy perennial, well known as sea-fennel, parsley-pert, and St. Peter's herb upon rocky coasts above high tide in Great Britain. It belongs to the family Umbelliferae. The plants, which attain a height of 1 to 2 feet, have somewhat linear glaucous-green fleshy leaves, 1/2 inch long, small white or yellowish flowers, which appear in umbels during July, and oblong yellowish fennel-like smallish seeds of light weight, which ripen in early autumn and lose their germinating power within a year. For more than three centuries the crisp and aromatic leaves and young stems gathered in August or September have been used in salads and vinegar pickles. Samphire rarely reaches perfection in gardens far from the seacoast, unless grown upon sandy or gravelly soil, and watered frequently and plentifully with weak salt- and soda-solutions. It may be propagated by root-division, but better by sowing the seed as soon as ripe, the plants being thinned to stand from 1 to 1 1/2 feet asunder in rows 2 to 2 1/2 feet apart. Golden samphire (Inula crithmifolia), a native of the marshes and seacoast of Great Britain, is an erect hardy perennial, 1 to 1 1/2 feet tall, with small, fleshy leaves and yellow flowers in small, umbel-like clusters. Though grown and used like true samphire, for which it is often sold, it lacks the pleasing, aromatic taste of the genuine. It belongs to the family Compositae. For marsh samphire, see Salicornia. CH The above text is from the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture. It may be out of date, but still contains valuable and interesting information which can be incorporated into the remainder of the article. Click on "Collapse" in the header to hide this text.

Cultivation

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Gallery

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References

• Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture, by L. H. Bailey, MacMillan Co., 1963

External links

• w:Samphire. Some of the material on this page may be from Wikipedia, under the Creative Commons license.
• Samphire QR Code (Size 50, 100, 200, 500)