Crithmum maritimum Rock Samphire PFAF Plant Database

2 New Books ** Edible Plants: An inspirational guide to choosing and growing unusual edible plants and Woodland Gardening (Forest) [Paperback]. more >>


Search Page Content

Crithmum maritimum - L.

Common Name

Rock Samphire

Family

Apiaceae or Umbelliferae

Synonyms

Cachrys maritima.

Known Hazards

None known

Habitats

On cliffs and rocks, or more rarely on shingle or sand, by the sea[17].

Range

Coastal regions of Europe, including Britain, to the Mediterranean and Black Sea.

Edibility Rating

Medicinal Rating

Care

Summary

Physical Characteristics

Crithmum maritimum is a PERENNIAL growing to 0.3 m (1ft) by 0.3 m (1ft in).
It is hardy to zone 6. It is in flower from Jun to August, and the seeds ripen from Aug to October. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs) and are pollinated by Insects.The plant is self-fertile.

Suitable for: light (sandy) soils, prefers well-drained soil and can grow in nutritionally poor soil. Suitable pH: acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils and can grow in very alkaline and saline soils.
It cannot grow in the shade. It prefers dry or moist soil. The plant can tolerate maritime exposure.


http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Chixoy

Habitats
Cultivated Beds;

Edible Uses

Edible Parts: Leaves; Seedpod.
Edible Uses:

Leaves - raw or cooked[2, 4, 5, 7, 12, 27, 37]. Vaguely reminiscent of fennel, but the taste is more bitter and brackish[132]. A powerful salty flavour, it has been described by one person as tasting like 'a mixture of celery and kerosene'[238]. The leaves are used as a flavouring in salads etc[132]. Gathered in spring, the young leaves when sprinkled with salt and boiled make a very good pickle[4]. The leaves are rich in vitamin C[238]. Seed pods[4, 5, 7, 12]. They are used to make a warm aromatic pickle[2].

Medicinal Uses

Plants For A Future can not take any responsibility for any adverse effects from the use of plants. Always seek advice from a professional before using a plant medicinally.

Carminative; Depurative; Digestive; Diuretic.

Rock samphire is little used in herbal medicine, though it is a good diuretic and holds out potential as a treatment for obesity[254]. It has a high vitamin C and mineral content and is thought to relieve flatulence and to act as a digestive remedy[254]. The young growing tips are carminative, depurative, digestive and diuretic[7, 238]. They are gathered when in active growth in the spring and used fresh[7, 238]. The leaves have the reputation for helping people lose weight and so are used in treating cases of obesity as well kidney complaints and sluggishness[238]. The essential oil is a digestive, a few drops being sprinkled on the food[7].

Other Uses
Essential. An essential oil from the plant is used in perfumery[7].

Cultivation details

Prefers a moist light sandy or gravelly soil, doing very well between stones or by a south-east facing wall[37]. Requires a warm dry well-drained sunny position and shade from the midday sun[1, 200]. Requires saline conditions[200]. Plants are best grown in moist salty soil or a very well-drained poor dry soil. When grown away from the coast, this plant requires a warm sheltered position and some protection in cold winters[238]. At one time this plant was sometimes cultivated in the vegetable garden[2], though it is quite difficult to do this successfully[1, 37]. It is difficult to grow outside its natural habitat[164].

Propagation

Seed - best sown as soon as it is ripe in the autumn[1]. Sow in a cold frame and only just cover the seed[164]. Germination usually takes place within 3 - 6 weeks at 15°c[164]. One report says that the seed only has a short viability and should be sown as soon as it is ripe[238], but it has germinated well with us when sown in April in a cold frame[K]. When they are large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and plant them out in early summer. Division in spring[238].

Plant Suppliers: Click here for a List

You can download this page as a PDF

Expert comment

Author
L.

Botanical References
17200

Links / References

[K] Ken Fern Notes from observations, tasting etc at Plants For A Future and on field trips.

[1]F. Chittendon. RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956

Comprehensive listing of species and how to grow them. Somewhat outdated, it has been replaces in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [200]).

[2]Hedrick. U. P. Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World.

Lots of entries, quite a lot of information in most entries and references.

[4]Grieve. A Modern Herbal.

Not so modern (1930's?) but lots of information, mainly temperate plants.

[5]Mabey. R. Food for Free.

Edible wild plants found in Britain. Fairly comprehensive, very few pictures and rather optimistic on the desirability of some of the plants.

[7]Chiej. R. Encyclopaedia of Medicinal Plants.

Covers plants growing in Europe. Also gives other interesting information on the plants. Good photographs.

[12]Loewenfeld. C. and Back. P. Britain's Wild Larder.

A handy pocket guide.

[17]Clapham, Tootin and Warburg. Flora of the British Isles.

A very comprehensive flora, the standard reference book but it has no pictures.

[27]Vilmorin. A. The Vegetable Garden.

A reprint of a nineteenth century classic, giving details of vegetable varieties. Not really that informative though.

[37]Thompson. B. The Gardener's Assistant.

Excellent general but extensive guide to gardening practices in the 19th century. A very good section on fruits and vegetables with many little known species.

[132]Bianchini. F., Corbetta. F. and Pistoia. M. Fruits of the Earth.

Lovely pictures, a very readable book.

[164]Bird. R. (Editor) Growing from Seed. Volume 4.

Very readable magazine with lots of information on propagation. A good article on Yuccas, one on Sagebrush (Artemesia spp) and another on Chaerophyllum bulbosum.

[200]Huxley. A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992.

Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.

[238]Bown. D. Encyclopaedia of Herbs and their Uses.

A very well presented and informative book on herbs from around the globe. Plenty in it for both the casual reader and the serious student. Just one main quibble is the silly way of having two separate entries for each plant.

[254]Chevallier. A. The Encyclopedia of Medicinal Plants

An excellent guide to over 500 of the more well known medicinal herbs from around the world.

Readers comment

Elizabeth H.
nevzat ucer	Sat Dec 8 2007

I am a collector of this(crithmum maritimum)plant and looking of it is market possibility in UK. Your information willbe thanksfull.kindly regards.

no match no match

Elizabeth H.
Katarina Eriksson	Tue Sep 9 2008

I grow it in the Herb Garden at The Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens and I find that once it gets going it will spread and if you pull it out on an area it may come back from the roots. I don't have salty soil so it does not taste salty, so when I tried to pickle it using 15th century resipe, it didnn't taste so good till I added more salt. Thank you for the wonderful website, I use if all the time for my herbal studies. Katarina Eriksson, Head Gardener of perennials and Herbs, Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens, San Marino, Califronia.

QR Code

What's this?

This is a QR code (short for Quick Response) which gives fast-track access to our website pages. QR Codes are barcodes that can be read by mobile phone (smartphone) cameras. This QR Code is unique to this page. All plant pages have their own unique code. For more information about QR Codes click here.

1. Copy and print the QR code to a plant label, poster, book, website, magazines, newspaper etc and even t-shirts.

2. Smartphone users scan the QR Code which automatically takes them to the webpage the QR Code came from.

3. Smartphone users quickly have information on a plant directly for the pfaf.org website on their phone.

Rate This Plant
Please rate this plants for how successful you have found it to be. You will need to be logged in to do this. Our intention is not to create a list of 'popular' plants but rather to highlight plants that may be rare and unusual and that have been found to be useful by website users. This hopefully will encourage more people to use plants that they possibly would not have considered before.

Add a comment/link

If you have important information about this plant that may help other users please add a comment or link below. Only comments or links that are felt to be directly relevant to a plant will be included. If you think a comment/link or information contained on this page is inaccurate or misleading we would welcome your feedback at admin@pfaf.org. If you have questions about a plant please use the Forum on this website as we do not have the resources to answer questions ourselves.

* Please note: the comments by website users are not necessarily those held by PFAF and may give misleading or inaccurate information.

Subject : Crithmum maritimum

Links	To add a link to another website with useful info add the details here
Name of Site
URL of Site
Details