Jan–MarApr–JunJul–SepOct–Dec
Planting
Days to maturity
Seasonal yields
Sow indoors · Direct sow · Transplant outdoors
← Explore Plants
Plant · P-325
Samphire
Salicornia europaea
Samphire, also called glasswort, is a succulent salt-marsh annual eaten as a briny potherb - young stems have a pleasant salty crunch raw or cooked, and the seed presses into a high-protein oil similar in quality to safflower oil. It only grows in salty, regularly wetted ground near tidal water, and contrary to the usual picture of a plant that survives on nothing, it actually wants rich, fertile, well-fed soil that just happens to carry a salt load. Its ash, historically burned for the potash it's rich in, was once a source material for soap and glass - which is where the "glasswort" name comes from.
Record at a glance
Growing profile
- Sun
- Full Sun
- USDA zone
- Not yet recorded
- Soil
- Sand · Loam · Clay
- Moisture
- Wet
Vertical layer
Herbaceous- Soil pH
- 6–8.5
- Plant type
- Annual
- Mature height
- 12 in
- Mature spread
- Not yet recorded
- Plant spacing
- 4 in
- Root type
- Fibrous-shallow
- Spread pattern
- Seed
Keep exploring
Similar plants
Discover more plants with shared forest layers or growing conditions.
African Rice
Oryza glaberrima
African Rice is a West African grain crop domesticated from a wild relative along the Niger river around 3,000 years ago, still grown as…
Herbaceous
Alsike Clover
Trifolium hybridum
Alsike Clover fixes nitrogen in wet, acid ground too cold and heavy for red clover to thrive in, and its flowers keep bees working all season…
Herbaceous · USDA 5–9
Angelica
Angelica archangelica
Angelica is a very large, short-lived umbellifer grown for its candied stem and aromatic root - the thick young stalks are peeled and boiled…
Herbaceous · USDA 5–7
Arugula
Eruca vesicaria
Arugula is the fastest food crop in the collection, germinating in about a day and giving a first harvest of strongly peppery leaves within…
Herbaceous · USDA 2–11
Barnyard Millet
Echinochloa crus-galli
Barnyard millet is a fast-growing wet-ground grass, the opposite of the other millets in what it asks for - it wants moist to flooded soil…
Herbaceous · USDA 3–11
Basket Rush
Juncus effusus
Basket Rush is a clump-forming, evergreen wetland perennial with smooth, cylindrical, leafless stems that grow upright in dense rounded…
Herbaceous · USDA 4–9
The deeper layer
Plan what comes next.
- Primary
- Locked ecological function
- Secondary
- Locked ecological function
- Byproduct
- Locked ecological function
Behind the record
- Locked research reference
- Locked research reference
- Locked research reference