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SAMPHIRE
The question on 'marsh samphire' had the GQT team stumped. This wild plant seems to go under a number of names: glasswort (because it could be used in glass-making), seabean, sea pickle, pousse pierre aka Salicornia europea or S. herbacea.
From Alison Gathercole of Dorset:
In Dorset it grows high up on cliffs, & therefore one presumes it does not
require marshy conditions as suggested. I was told about the Shakespeare
quote by a former ranger at Lulworth, who said that 'horrible trade' was a
reference to the fact that children were dangled over cliffs tied by ropes
on their feet .... which does sound a rather horrible task ... in order to
pick the plant.
I have bought samphire from a French street market held in Dorset, pickled in
a jar, very nice indeed. It is, I believe, referred to as 'poor man's
asparagus'.
From Susan Burton:
I think that the Dorset samphire (and Shakespeare's) is Crithmum maritimum and unrelated to the samphire we eat here in Suffolk which is, apparently, an Anglicism of l'herbe de St Pierre.
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