Samphire.
Crithmum maritimum.
A plant not uncommon about sea coasts, with much of the appearance of fennel, only not so tall: some have called it sea fennel. It is two feet high. The leaves are large, and divided in the manner those of fennel, into slender end small parts, but they are thick and fleshy, the stalk is round, hollow, striated, and a little branched. The flowers are small and yellow, and they stand at the tops of the stalks in great clusters or umbels, in the manner of those of fennel. The whole plant has a warm and agreeable taste, and a good smell.
The leaves are used fresh; but those which grow immediately from the root, where there is no stalk, are best; they are pickled, and brought to our tables; but they are often adulterated, and other things pickled in their place. The juice of the fresh leaves operates very powerfully by urine, and is good against the gravel and stone, against suppressions of the menses, and the jaundice.
