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Portrait of Marsh samphire

Nature · Wildflowers & flowers

Marsh samphire

Native annual · flowers Aug–Sep · saltmarsh mud and estuary flats

Salicornia europaea — Amaranthaceae

Marsh samphire, or glasswort, is a leafless-looking, jointed, fleshy green annual that pioneers the lowest, muddiest, most frequently flooded part of the saltmarsh. Its edible young shoots are the 'sea asparagus' of summer fish stalls, and its ash was once burned for soda for glass and soap. Several very similar species make up the group, and it must not be confused with rock samphire, an unrelated cliff plant.

How to spot them

  • ▸Erect, branched, jointed, translucent green stems made of swollen fleshy segments — the leaves are reduced to tiny scales
  • ▸Grows on open mud and sand of the lowest saltmarsh, often in huge green swards
  • ▸Turns glassy red, orange or purple in autumn before dying; a true annual
  • ▸Tiny flowers sit in the joints of the upper segments, in threes, and are barely noticeable
  • ▸Look-alike: rock samphire, Crithmum maritimum — a perennial of cliffs and rocks in the carrot family with feathery, fleshy, aromatic leaves and yellow-green umbels; marsh samphire is a leafless-looking salt-mud annual with jointed stems

How to know it

Fleshy, jointed, leafless-looking green stems standing in tidal mud, harvested in summer and boiled or steamed as 'sea asparagus'

Marsh samphire, Salicornia europaea — also called glasswort.

This plant's ash, rich in soda, was burned to make the alkali used in medieval and early modern glass and soap

Marsh samphire — hence the name glasswort.

The genus name is Latin for 'salt horn', describing the jointed, salty stems that colonise the muddiest part of the marsh

Salicornia = salt-horn; marsh samphire.

Its cliff-dwelling namesake, in the carrot family, has aromatic, feathery, fleshy leaves and yellow-green flower umbels, and is the plant Edgar describes in King Lear

That is rock samphire; this is marsh samphire, a salt-mud annual with jointed, leafless-looking stems.

A pioneer of the saltmarsh, it is the first plant to colonise bare mud, stabilising it for the cord-grasses and sea purslane that follow

Marsh samphire.

Turning red and orange in autumn, this annual stores salt in its swollen segments, a succulent halophyte adaptation

Marsh samphire.

Quick-fire facts

  • •Native annual; the Salicornia europaea group contains several very similar species that are hard to separate in the field
  • •Family Amaranthaceae (formerly Chenopodiaceae), alongside spinach, beet and goosefoot
  • •Called glasswort because its ash, rich in soda, was used in glassmaking in medieval and early post-medieval times
  • •Young shoots are edible raw or cooked and are sold as samphire or sea asparagus; Norfolk marshes are a traditional source
  • •In the saltmarsh sequence it comes first on the mud, followed by cord-grasses, sea purslane, sea aster and sea lavender (Wildlife Trusts)
  • •Unauthorised uprooting of any wild plant is an offence under section 13 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, and picking for sale may need the landowner's permission
  • •The name 'samphire' comes from the French herbe de Saint-Pierre, which properly belongs to the rock samphire; the two plants are often confused because both are salty and edible
  • •Perennial glasswort, Sarcocornia perennis, is a woody, lower-marsh relative that survives the winter

Drill it — 7 cards

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