Crithmum

Last updated

Contents

Samphire
Perce-pierre.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Apiales
Family: Apiaceae
Subfamily: Apioideae
Tribe: Pyramidoptereae
Genus: Crithmum
L.
Species:
C. maritimum
Binomial name
Crithmum maritimum
L.
Crithmum maritimum Gardenology.org-IMG 2826 rbgs11jan.jpg
Crithmum maritimum
Crithmum maritimum (habitat) Crithmum maritimum 20080801 105452 Getxo 43p3489N 3p0148W r.jpg
Crithmum maritimum (habitat)
Crithmum maritimum - MHNT Crithmum maritimum MHNT.BOT.2008.1.12.jpg
Crithmum maritimumMHNT

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.

Crithmum is an edible wild plant. It is found on coastlines throughout much of Europe (north to the British Isles), Macaronesia, parts of West Asia and North Africa in the Atlantic, Mediterranean and Black Sea coasts.

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!" [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 is cultivated in gardens, [6] [5] where it grows readily in a light, rich soil. In the United Kingdom the uprooting of wild plants is illegal under the Wildlife and Countryside Act. [7] 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 ]

Culinary use

Rock samphire or sea fennel has fleshy, divided aromatic leaves that Culpeper described as having a "pleasant, hot and spicy taste" [8]

The stems, leaves and seed pods may be pickled in hot, salted, spiced vinegar, or the leaves used fresh in salads. Dried and ground sea fennel can also be used as a salt substitute.

Sea fennel pickle in olive oil or vinegar is a traditional food of Italy (Marche region), Croatia (Dalmatia), Greece, and Montenegro (Bay of Kotor). 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, [9] 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 nutritional value, [10] and is rich in antioxidants. [11]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parsley</span> Species of flowering plant in the celery family Apiaceae cultivated as an herb

Parsley, or garden parsley is a species of flowering plant in the family Apiaceae that is native to Greece, Morocco and the former Yugoslavia. It has been introduced and naturalized in Europe and elsewhere in the world with suitable climates, and is widely cultivated as a herb, and a vegetable.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rosemary</span> Species of plant

Salvia rosmarinus, commonly known as rosemary, is a shrub with fragrant, evergreen, needle-like leaves and white, pink, purple, or blue flowers, native to the Mediterranean region. Until 2017, it was known by the scientific name Rosmarinus officinalis, now a synonym.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fennel</span> Flowering plant species in the carrot family

Fennel is a flowering plant species in the carrot family. It is a hardy, perennial herb with yellow flowers and feathery leaves. It is indigenous to the shores of the Mediterranean but has become widely naturalized in many parts of the world, especially on dry soils near the sea coast and on riverbanks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Watercress</span> Species of flowering plant in the cabbage family

Watercress or yellowcress is a species of aquatic flowering plant in the cabbage family, Brassicaceae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Celeriac</span> Variety of plant

Celeriac, also called celery root, knob celery, and turnip-rooted celery, is a variety of celery cultivated for its edible stem or hypocotyl, and shoots. Celeriac is like a root vegetable except it has a bulbous hypocotyl with many small roots attached.

<i>Salicornia</i> Genus of flowering plants in the family Amaranthaceae

Salicornia is a genus of succulent, halophytic flowering plants in the family Amaranthaceae that grow in salt marshes, on beaches, and among mangroves. Salicornia species are native to North America, Europe, central Asia, and southern Africa. Common names for the genus include glasswort, pickleweed, picklegrass, and marsh samphire; these common names are also used for some species not in Salicornia. To French speakers in Atlantic Canada, they are known colloquially as titines de souris. The main European species is often eaten, called marsh samphire in Britain, and the main North American species is occasionally sold in grocery stores or appears on restaurant menus as sea beans, samphire greens or sea asparagus.

<i>Eryngium maritimum</i> Species of flowering plant in the celery family Apiaceae

Eryngium maritimum, the sea holly or sea eryngo, or sea eryngium, is a perennial species of flowering plant in the family Apiaceae and native to most European coastlines. It resembles a thistle in appearance because of its burr-shaped inflorescences. Despite its common name, it is not a true holly but an umbellifer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samphire</span> Common name for multiple species of plants

Samphire is a name given to a number of succulent salt-tolerant plants (halophytes) that tend to be associated with water bodies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leaf vegetable</span> Plant leaves eaten as a vegetable

Leaf vegetables, also called leafy greens, pot herbs, vegetable greens, or simply greens, are plant leaves eaten as a vegetable, sometimes accompanied by tender petioles and shoots. Leaf vegetables eaten raw in a salad can be called salad greens.

<i>Cyclanthera pedata</i> Species of plant

Cyclanthera pedata, known as caigua, is a herbaceous vine grown for its edible fruit, which is predominantly used as a vegetable. It is known from cultivation only, and its use goes back many centuries as evidenced by ancient phytomorphic ceramics from Peru depicting the fruits.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Summer savory</span> Species of flowering plant

Summer savory is among the best known of the savory genus. It is an annual, but otherwise is similar in use and flavor to the perennial winter savory. It is used more often than winter savory, which has a slightly more bitter flavor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glasswort</span> Index of plants with the same common name

The glassworts are various succulent, annual halophytic plants, that is, plants that thrive in saline environments, such as seacoasts and salt marshes. The original English glasswort plants belong to the genus Salicornia, but today the glassworts include halophyte plants from several genera, some of which are native to continents unknown to the medieval English, and growing in ecosystems, such as mangrove swamps, never envisioned when the term glasswort was coined.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samphire Hoe</span> English country park

Samphire Hoe is a country park situated 2 miles (3 km) west of Dover in Kent in southeast England. The park was created by using 4.9 million cubic metres of chalk marl from the Channel Tunnel excavations and is found at the bottom of a section of the White Cliffs of Dover. The site is owned by Getlink, and managed by the White Cliffs Countryside Project.

<i>Salicornia quinqueflora</i> Species of plant

Salicornia quinqueflora, synonym Sarcocornia quinqueflora, commonly known as beaded samphire, bead weed, beaded glasswort or glasswort, is a species of succulent halophytic coastal shrub. It occurs in wetter coastal areas of Australia and New Zealand.

<i>Pangium</i> Genus of trees

Pangium is a genus in the family Achariaceae containing the sole species Pangium edule, a tall tree native to the mangrove swamps of Southeast Asia. It produces a large poisonous fruit which can be made edible by fermentation. It is dioecious, with male and female flowers produced on separate individuals.

Maritimum may refer to:

<i>Salicornia europaea</i> Species of flowering plant in the amaranth family Amaranthaceae

Salicornia europaea, known as marsh samphire, common glasswort or just glasswort, is a halophytic annual dicot flowering plant in the family Amaranthaceae. Glasswort is a succulent herb also known as "pickle weed" or "marsh samphire". As a succulent, it has high water content, which accounts for its slightly translucent look and gives it the descriptive name "glasswort". To some people, it is known as "chicken toe" because of its shape. To others, it is called "saltwort". It grows in various zones of intertidal salt marshes, on beaches, and among mangroves.

<i>Stenochlaena palustris</i> Species of fern

Stenochlaena palustris is an edible medicinal fern species. In the folk medicines of India and Malaysia, the leaves of this fern are used as remedies for fever, skin diseases, ulcers, and stomachache.

Fennel is a species of plant, Foeniculum vulgare

<i>Litsea garciae</i> Species of plant

Litsea garciae, also known as engkala, engkalak, kangkala, pangalaban and Borneo avocado, is a flowering plant belonging to the family Lauraceae and genus Litsea. It is native to Taiwan, the Philippines, Borneo, the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Java, and Sulawesi.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Crithmum maritimum". Germplasm Resources Information Network . Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture . Retrieved 13 March 2014.
  2. BSBI List 2007 (xls). Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland. Archived from the original (xls) on 26 June 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2014.
  3. Shakespeare, William (1623). The Tragedy of King Lear. London. Act IV, scene VI, lines 14b-15
  4. Grigson, Geoffrey (1958). The Englishman's Flora. London: The Readers' Union, Phoenix House.
  5. 1 2 Phillips, Roger (1983). Wild Food. Pan. ISBN   0-330-28069-4.
  6. "Crithmum maritimum". Royal Horticultural Society. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
  7. "Protection of wild plants". Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office. 1981. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
  8. Culpeper, Nicholas (1653). The Complete Herbal. London.
  9. Mabey, Richard (1975). Food For Free. Fontana. ISBN   0-00-613470-X.
  10. Romojaro A, Botella MÁ, Obón C, Pretel MT (2013). "Nutritional and antioxidant properties of wild edible plants and their use as potential ingredients in the modern diet". Int J Food Sci Nutr. 64: 944–52. doi:10.3109/09637486.2013.821695. PMID   23944868.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  11. Meot-Duros L, Magné C (2009). "Antioxidant activity and phenol content of Crithmum maritimum L. leaves". Plant Physiol Biochem. 47: 37–41. doi:10.1016/j.plaphy.2008.09.006. PMID   18980846.