Edible wild plants found by the sea – Rock Samphire

Rock Samphire growing at Swanbridge, South Wales. Photo by Steve Andrews

The rock samphire, samphire or sea fennel is a commonly found edible plant that grows in rocks at the top of beaches, growing amongst the shingle and on cliffs. It is found in the UK and along coasts of parts of Europe and the Mediterranean area, as well as on the Canary Islands.

Known to botanists as Crithmum maritimum, the rock samphire is in the Apiaceae or parsley family. It has succulent divided leaves and umbels of greenish-yellow flowers.  It is aromatic if bruised and has quite a strong smell and taste. The herbalist Nicholas Culpeper described rock samphire as having a “pleasant, hot and spicy taste.”

Richard Mabey gives some recipes for rock samphire in his classic book for foragers entitled Food For Free.  This book has proved so popular that it has been republished over and over and is now in its fortieth year. 

Rock Samphire in Portugal Photo by Steve Andrews

Rock samphire can be found all year round and can be eaten sparingly raw in salads, pickled in vinegar or cooked as a green vegetable. It was once so popular that it was mentioned by Shakespeare who describing the dangerous practice of gathering it from high on cliffs, wrote, "Half-way down, Hangs one that gathers samphire; dreadful trade!”  It was collected too in the Isle of Wight and shipped to London in vats of seawater to keep it fresh.

These days it is illegal to remove plants of samphire from their natural habitat.  Nevertheless the rock samphire is an interesting edible plant to look out for when walking by the sea.

Edible wild plants found by the sea – Sea Beet or Wild Spinach

Sea Beet amongst seaweed and rocks. Photo by Steve Andrews

Sea beet is a common edible plant found at the top of beaches and near the sea in the UK and Europe.

Its leaves are very good cooked as greens and taste very much like spinach. This is not surprising because the plant is an ancestor of cultivated spinach beet and beetroot. In fact, the sea beet is also known as wild spinach.

It produces masses of glossy dark green oval or diamond-shaped leaves in rosettes that can be found all year around. Its flowers are small and greenish and form in summer and autumn.

Sea beet can be found growing amongst pebbles and rocks at the top of a beach and on coastal land and is easy to recognise. You are not likely to find anything else looking like poking its greenery through the pebbles. It can be found growing where seaweed and other floating rubbish has been washed up by the tide.

The leaves of Sea Beet. Photo by Steve Andrews

The stems of sea beet and the leaf stalks sometimes have a purplish-red colouration which shows their link with beetroots.

The leaves of sea beet can be eaten raw in salads as well as being cooked like spinach. Many people think their flavour is actually better than spinach we grow and buy.

Richard Mabey recommends it strongly in Food For Free his classic book on foraging which is now in its fortieth year and contains info with illustrations for some 200 types of edible plant and wild mushroom.

The sea beet is known to botanists as Beta vulgaris ssp. maritma and used to be classed as in the Chenopodiaceae but it is now in the Amaranthaceae. Many other plants in this family, such as the goosefoot (Chenopodium album), are also edible.

The Swallowtail Butterfly is very rare in the UK

Swallowtail (Papilio machaon) Image by Pixabay

The swallowtail butterfly is attractively marked in yellow and black and is one of the rarest butterflies in the UK being confined to the fenland in the Norfolk Broads area. This is because in Britain its caterpillar will only feed on the milk parsley (Peucedanum palustre).

The swallowtail takes its name from projections on its hind-wings which also have some blue colouration on them and a bright red spot.

The British swallowtail is one of the largest butterflies to be seen in the country and is actually a subspecies known to science as Papilio machaon ssp. britannicus. 

Caterpillars of continental swallowtails will eat a wide variety of food-plants including species in the Apiacae (parsley family) such as wild carrot (Daucus carota) and fennel (Foeniculum vulgare), as well as the rue (Ruta graveolens).

Swallowtail caterpillars are easy to spot because they have bold blackish stripes on their green bodies. They also have a weird forked organ known as an osmeterium that is protruded if the insect larva is threatened. This organ emits an unpleasant smell that is thought to help ward off predators.

Swallowtail caterpillar on rue. Photo by Steve Andrews

Swallowtails are fairly common and widely distributed in many parts of Europe and in Portugal, for example, they can be seen in gardens where the eggs get laid on rue.

Swallowtails sometimes migrate from France to the UK and there have been reports of them breeding but the only native species are to be found in the Norfolk Broads as already noted.

There are many other types of swallowtail butterfly found around the world. Some of these are common but others are endangered butterfly species.

The swallowtail butterfly is a very beautiful insect and it would be a very great shame if the British type ever becomes extinct.

Detox For Your Home With Houseplant Decoration

Houseplants in window In Public Domain

Most people know that houseplants can contribute to a natural atmosphere, but they might be unaware of the fact that indoor plants can make them a healthier person. As always, being environmentally conscious is important, but we should also be thinking about how to bring the natural world into our living spaces using a variety of  houseplants for our own health as well as considering them for their natural beauty.

Indoor plants, as decoration, not only look good and add a splash of colour but they can actually help make your home a healthier place to live by cutting down on pollutants in the air. Aloe vera (Aloe barbadensis), ivy (Hedera helix) and the mother-in-law’s-tongue or snake plant (Sanseveria trifasciata), for example, are all recommended for improving air quality.

Mother-in-law's tongue  In Public Domain

One way you can plot out your plants is by using 3D design software on the Internet. This method can help you with deciding where each type of houseplant is most likely to thrive. You can also get an idea of what space is available and how much lighting there is by using a bird’s eye view.

Natural light coming in through windows, as well as keeping plants in good condition, can enhance the foliage, casting some shadows that add depth and create some interesting visual effects.

Most houseplants look best against a simple and uncluttered background to provide contrast. Plants also help you scale the look of your rooms, as including bigger plants in your space ironically gives rooms a larger feel. The Swiss cheese plant (Monstera deliciosa) and the rubber plant (Ficus elastica) have been very popular for many years but they need the space to grow and really look their best.

Ficus elastica In Public Domain

You will be spending most of your time in the living room so this is a good place to distribute them. Plants have been proven to have positive effect on mood and they can help your relax. In fact your grandparents were probably resting by an aspidistra or cast iron plant (Aspidistra elatior). This traditional plant is easy to grow in the living room or lounge.

Cilantro leaves  Photo by Steve Andrews

Herbs like cilantro (Coriandrum sativum), chives (Allium schoenoprasum) and basil (Ocimum basilicum) can be grown for convenience in the kitchen and provide an array of health benefits. They also add a touch of natural charm to your home and flavour to your cooking.

The symbiotic relationship plants provide extend even into the bathroom. Ferns will benefit from the humidity and release oxygen into the air to help you wake up in the morning. The maidenhair fern in particular (Adiantum aethiopicum) loves cool damp air and has delicate pale green fronds.

Christmas cactus In Public Domain

You can even add a seasonal touch to your home by growing bulbs like hyacinths indoors in spring, and the colourful Christmas cactus (Schlumbergera species) will flower in the festive season.

Christmas cactus flower In Public Domain

Red Admiral Butterflies

Red Admiral Vanessa atalanta (in Public Domain)

The Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta) is a very well known butterfly that is often seen in gardens and parks in the UK, especially in autumn when it is one of the last flying insects to be seen before the winter begins.

It has very conspicuous red and black wings and white spots on the wing-tips. The underside of the wings is mainly mottled and provides camouflage when the wings are folded.

The Red Admiral is a migrant butterfly that arrives in the UK and northern Europe each year and is believed to hibernate in small numbers in Britain too. In late summer and autumn it can often be found feeding on rotting fruit such as apples, pears and plums that have fallen to the ground in gardens and orchards. Red Admiral adults can often be seen feeding on Buddleia or the Butterfly Bush (Buddleia davidii) in late summer. With its spectacular colouration the Red Admiral is one of the most popular and commonly sighted British butterflies.

The caterpillar of the Red Admiral is mostly found on Stinging Nettle (Urtica dioica) but sometimes will also be discovered eating other plants in the Urticacae including Pellitory of the Wall (Parietaria officinalis) and the Small Nettle (U. urens), as well as Hops (Humulus lupulus) in the Cannabaceae. The Stinging Nettle is a familiar sight and often forms large patches alongside fields, on river and railway banks, and on waste ground and Pellitory of the Wall grows, as its name suggests, in the walls of old and ruined buildings.

The male Red Admiral butterflies tend to be smaller than the females but otherwise look identical. Females can be seen flying over food-plants and stopping to lay eggs but otherwise they are mainly encountered feeding on flowers or fruit or simply basking or flying in the sunshine.

Canary Red Admiral (Vanessa vulcania)

In Tenerife and the Canary Islands there is a very similar species of Red Admiral though it is smaller and has slightly different wing patterns. The red bands have black markings breaking them up. The Canary Red Admiral (V. vulcania) tends to be mainly seen in spring and lives in the cooler areas of the islands where there is more vegetation. 

Canary Red Admiral resting

This species is also found living in Madeira. It used to be referred to as Vulcania indica the Indian Red Admiral but has been declared as a separate species to this butterfly. Like the Red Admiral its caterpillars feed on nettles and plants in the Urticaceae.

Both species of Red Admiral butterfly are very pretty creatures from the Nymphalidae family and not easily mistaken for any other species. 

Copyright © 2013 Steve Andrews. All Rights Reserved.

Wall Pennywort is a delicious edible plant

Wall Pennywort

Wall Pennywort (Umbilicus rupestris) is an interesting edible wild plant that you are not likely to mistake for anything else. It grows, as its name suggests in old stone walls, and also in crevices in rocks, and has round leaves hence its name.

The Wall Pennywort is also known as Navelwort because its leaves have a small indentation in the middle that could be likened to a navel in a human stomach. The leaves grow in rosettes. An alternative name for the plant is Penny-pies.

Wall Pennywort is found in the UK and parts of southern and western Europe as well as in the Canary Islands. It has spikes of greenish-pink flowers on stems that may be a reddish shade and it flowers in spring and as late as May and early summer depending on location. These flower-spikes can reach some 10in in height and the small flowers are bell-shaped.  It is a member of the Crassulaceae or Stonecrop family and is adapted for surviving in dry conditions. The leaves and plant are succulent and fleshy.

Wall Pennywort in flower

The leaves can be eaten as a salad and have been compared with a crisp lettuce in flavour. They are best when found growing in moist conditions or after rain when they are really juicy. Wall Pennywort tends to turn a reddish colour in very dry conditions and will lose it succulent fleshiness. Take care when gathering the leaves because Wall Pennywort is very shallow-rooted and the whole plant can easily be pulled out of the small amount of soil it is growing in.

Wall Pennywort has been used in homeopathic medicine and is known as Cotyledon umbilicus to practitioners. The plant is thought to be the “Kidneywort”, described by Nicholas Culpeper in the English Physician. The famous herbalist said of the Wall Pennywort: : "the juice or the distilled water being drank, is very effectual for all inflammations and unnatural heats, to cool a fainting hot stomach, a hot liver, or the bowels: the herb, juice, or distilled water thereof, outwardly applied, heals pimples, St. Anthony's fire, and other outward heats. The said juice or water helps to heal sore kidneys, torn or fretted by the stone, or exulcerated within; it also provokes urine, is available for the dropsy, and helps to break the stone. Being used as a bath, or made into an ointment, it cools the painful piles or hæmorrhoidal veins. It is no less effectual to give ease to the pains of the gout, the sciatica, and helps the kernels or knots in the neck or throat, called the king's evil: healing kibes and chilblains if they be bathed with the juice, or anointed with ointment made thereof, and some of the skin of the leaf upon them: it is also used in green wounds to stay the blood, and to heal them quickly."

Wall Pennywort is a plant that is easily recognised and is worth adding to the plants you are foraging for. It really is an enjoyable edible wild plant to be eaten as a salad vegetable or to add to sandwiches.

Rare Canary Islands Bencomia shrub grows to the size of trees in Cuevas Negras

Bencomia caudata Photo by David Parkes

Many years ago the Findhorn village in Scotland made the news because of the gigantic plants and vegetables that grew there, and this was believed to have happened due to the magical assistance of nature spirits. Findhorn was soon to become a thriving New Age community and still is to this day. Now a rare shrub known as Bencomia caudata has been found growing to the size of small trees here in Tenerife in the Canary Islands.

According to author and botanist David Bramwell in his book Wild Flowers of the CanaryIslands, this particular species of Bencomia only reaches 2 m in height and he describes it as a “small shrub.” However, whilst out walking with friends I discovered a number of specimens of this rare plant that had developed into small trees and reached 4 m or more. Some of these had proper branches and trunks as well. They are of the beaten track and hidden away in the garden of an abandoned house in the Cuevas Negras area above Los Silos.

Bencomia caudata tree. Photo by David Parkes

I contacted Bramwell and he has confirmed that the small trees are B. caudata but a lot bigger than usual. It is thought that the fertile soil where they are growing has caused their fantastic increase in size. The Cuevas Negras ravine they are in is sheltered and receives plenty of water. Most of the vegetation growing there is very tall, green and luxuriant. There are very high plants of some sort of Cabbage in the garden as well and my friend Holly van Heffernan was photographed by one of these to show just how tall they are.

Holly van Heffernan with a Cuevas Negras cabbage. Photo by Steve Andrews

The Bencomia genus of shrubs is actually in the Rosacae or Rose family but only an experienced botanist would be likely to realise this because the shrubs do not look anything like the popular flower we all know so well. They are evergreens and have attractive pinnate leaves. The flowers are carried in inflorescences that later on turn into tightly packed globular fruits. The flowers are either male or female and the plants are dioecious.

Palo de Sangre the Stick of Blood. Photo by Steve Andrews 

The leaf-form of the Bencomia species bears a resemblance to those of the Stick of Blood or “Palo de Sangre” (Marcetella moquiniana) that is another uncommon shrub found in Tenerife. It gets its name from having the upper parts of its stems covered in bright red hairs. This shrub is in the Rose family too. It grows on cliffs, slopes and in ravines in the wild but is frequently cultivated in parks and gardens for its ornamental value.

There are another three species of Bencomia that are endemics of the Canary Islands.  B.exstipulata grows in various locations in the highlands of Mt Teide, B. sphaerocarpa is surving in small populations on the forest cliffs of El Hierro, and B. brachystachya is a shrub that is only found in Gran Canaria. All of the Bencomias are very rare plants and protected species.

Copyright © 2013 Steve Andrews. All Rights Reserved.