Samphire

Samphire is a name given to a number of succulent salt-tolerant plants (halophytes) that tend to be associated with water bodies.

• Rock samphire (Crithmum maritimum) is a coastal species with white flowers that grows in Ireland, the United Kingdom and the Isle of Man. This is probably the species mentioned by Shakespeare in King Lear.
• Golden samphire (Limbarda crithmoides) is a coastal species with yellow flowers that grows across Eurasia.
• Several species in the genus Salicornia, known as "marsh samphire" in Britain.
• Blutaparon vermiculare, Central America, southeastern North America
• Tecticornia, Australia
• Sarcocornia, cosmopolitan

Following the construction of the Channel Tunnel, the nature reserve created on new land near Folkestone made from excavated rock was named "Samphire Hoe", a name coined by Mrs Gillian Janaway.