Rock samphire (Crithmum maritimum)

Description

The sea ??fennel ( Crithmum maritimum L. ) is a perennial herbaceous plant belonging to the family of umbellifers originating from the European Mediterranean regions. It is the only species of the genus Crithmum. It is a halophyte plant , that is to say it lives near the sea, often also in the cracks of the rock; is rhizomatous perennial with stems very robust and branched, woody at the base, from 30 to 60 cm high. The leaves , composed, are formed by small lanceolate leaves, fleshy, glaucous, 1.5-2.0 cm long and inserted on a long petiole. The flowers are gathered in very small umbrellas , white to yellowish in color; they bloom from July to September. The fruits are egg-shaped, formed by two achenes. The whole plant is strongly and pleasantly aromatic. It is a plant that casts a thick strain like a fine little finger, more or less branched; each of the branches of the strain is leafless in the lower part, but with the remains of the leaves of other years, and extends upwards in a reddish stem, thick, but herbaceous, glaucous and finally striated, tortuous with the medulla so white; the leaves are also glaucous, stiff, with the corner dilated as a pod, and the silt three times divided into narrow segments, but very penguins. The stem and the branches finish in some umbels, constituted in a number of radios that vary from ten to twenty; being short and thick rays, surrounded by an involucre of six or more persistent bracts. The flowers are white or greenish yellow. The ovoid fruit, from 4 to 6 mm in length, with very sharp longitudinal fillets; Due to its thick and spongy walls, the fruit is very light. This plant has a lot of branching, 1 to 2 palms in height; its leaves have a strong flavor, reminiscent of celery, with salty tones. In some areas it has also been associated with its taste of asparagus, becoming called in England the "Asparagus of the Poor". It blooms towards the month of August and its fruits mature in autumn. The leaves are of interest in the harvest, which are green like the stem and have a dilated stem, as if it were a pod.