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:''This page requires fact checking and clean up, and separating the information on rock samphire from that on marsh samphire: they are very different plants.''

'Samphire' is a name given to a number of plants that grow in coastal areas.

★ 'Rock samphire', ''Crithmum maritimum'' is a coastal species with white flowers that grows in the United Kingdom. This is probably the species mentioned by Shakespeare in King Lear - ''"Half-way down, Hangs one that gathers samphire; dreadful trade!"''

★ 'Golden samphire', ''Inula crithmoides'' is a coastal species with yellow flowers that grows across Eurasia.

★ 'Marsh samphire' is another name given to the glassworts, genus ''Salicornia''.

★ 'Samphire' is commonly used to describe plants from the Australian genus of succulent coastal plants ''Halosarcia'', and from the cosmopolitan genus ''Sarcocornia''.
'Samphire' is also the name of a short story by Patrick O'Brian.

Contents

Etymology

External links

Etymology

Originally "sampiere" from the French "Saint Pierre". Samphire - the word is a corruption of St. Peter - was named for the patron saint of fishermen because all the original plants with its name grow in rocky salt-sprayed regions along the sea coast of northern Europe or in its coastal marsh areas.
All the plants bearing the name are annuals specific to salty areas that begin growing in late autumn and vegetates throughout the winter until the first warm weather arrives. Then the first stems and internodes form and by mid-spring the plant measures 6 to 8 cm.
Marsh samphire ashes were used to make soap and glass (hence its other old English name, "glasswort.") In the 14th century glassmakers located their workshops near regions where this plant grew, since it was so closely linked to their trade.
Samphire of all kinds has long been eaten in England. The leaves were gathered early in the year and pickled or eaten in salads with oil and vinegar. It is even mentioned by Shakespeare in King Lear:
:''Half-way down Hangs one that gathers samphire; dreadful trade!''
This refers to the dangers involved in collecting Rock samphire on sea cliffs.

External links

★ Buying and cooking samphire BBC Good Food