CRITHMUM MARITIMUM. SEA SAMPHIRE. 
Class V. PENTANDRIA.— Order II. DIGYNIA. 
Natural Order, UMBELLIFER.E. THE UMBELLIFEROUS TRIBE. 
Margin of calyx obsolete. Petals roundish, entire, involute, ending in an obovate segment. Transverse 
section of fruit nearly terete ; mericarps with 5 elevated, sharp, rather winged ribs : lateral ribs a little broader 
than the rest, and marginating : pericarp spongy, with large cells. Seed semi-terete, constituting a free 
nucleus, which is covered with copious vittas in every part. A suffruticose, glabrous, fleshy herb. Petioles 
sheathing at the base. Leaves bipinnate, leaflets oblong-linear. Umbels compound. Involucre and invo- 
lucets of many leaves. Flowers white. This genus differs from all others in the present tribe as the genus 
Archangelica does from the rest of the genera in tribe Angeliceae, in the seed being a free nucleus, covered 
with copious vittee. Native of rocky sea-shores and cliffs; as along the Black Sea, in Tauria; and along the 
Mediterranean Sea; and of Europe, along the shores of the Western Ocean from Spain to Britain; and of 
the Canary Islands. In Britain on the rocky sea-shore and cliffs. Samphire is called Perce-pierre and 
Saint-pierre (of which our English name appears to be a corruption,) in French ; Meerfenchel in German ; and 
Finnochio marino in Italian. The herb makes an old fashioned English pickle. It is sold in the London 
shops, and is a frequent addition in salads. In taste it is crisp and aromatic, and constitutes a light and 
wholesome condiment. It is generally gathered in places where it is found wild, and the allusion to the 
practice, by Shakespeare, in his description of Dover Cliffs, is in the following lines : — 
How fearful 
And dizzy ’tis, to cast one’s eyes so low! 
The crows, and choughs, that wing the midway air, 
Show scarce so gross as beetles: half way down 
Hangs one that gathers samphire; dreadful tradel 
Methinks, he seems no bigger than his head: 
The fishermen, that walk upon the beach, 
Appear like mice; and yon tall anchoring bark, 
Diminish’d to her cock; her cock, a buoy 
Almost too small for sight: the murmuring surge, 
That on the unnumber’d idle pebbles chafes, 
Cannot be heard so high: — I’ll look no more; 
Lest my brain turn, and the deficient sight 
Topple down headlong. 
Kitty Lear , Act iv. Scene 6. 
There is an interesting incident connected with the rock samphire, the detail of which may not 
be out of place here. It should be stated, that the Lichens or aerial algse, never grow submerged ; 
the fuci, or aquatic algse, never grow emerged : the same may be said of other plants which are the living- 
demarcations of land and sea; e. g. the samphire never grows but on the sea-shore, and yet it never grows 
within reach of the waves ; that is to say, it is never so near as to be covered by the water. It happened 
not long since that a knowledge of this fact was useful in a way and at a time when botanic knowledge 
might a priori have been expected to be of little practical importance. During a violent storm, in November 
1821, a vessel, passing through the English Channel, was driven on shore near Beachy Head, and the whole 
crew being washed overboard, four escaped from the wreck, only to be delivered, as they thought, to a more 
lingering and fearful, from its being a more gradual and equally inevitable death ; for having in the darkness 
of the night, been cast upon the breakers, they found, when they had climbed up these low rocks, that the 
waves were rapidly encroaching, and they doubted not that, when the tide should be at its height, the whole 
range would be entirely submerged. The darkness of the night prevented any thing being seen beyond the 
spot upon which they stood, and which was continually decreasing by the successive wave. The violence of 
the storm left no hope that their feeble voices, even if raised to the uttermost, could be heard on shore ; and 
they knew that, amidst the howling of the blast, they could reach no other ear than that of God. Man 
could afford them no assistance in such a situation, even if their distress were known. The circle of their exis- 
tence here seemed gradually lessening before their eyes, their little span of earth gradually contracting to their 
destruction, already they had receded to the highest points, and already the infuriated waters followed them, 
flinging over their devoted heads the foremost waves, as heralds of their speedily approaching dissolution. 
At this moment one of these wretched men, while they were debating whether they should not in this exr 
tremity throw themselves upon the mercy of the waves, hoping to be cast upon some higher ground, as 
