'MILYU' BLACK SEED SAMPHIRE (Tecticornia pergranulata) Seeds

Samphire (Tecticornia) is a genus of salt tolerant, ground hugging succulents, some of which are endemic or unique to Australia. The genus contains several species, many of which are edible and are commonly referred to as sea asparagus, swamp grass, salicorn, glasswort, pickleweed, and sea beans.

Samphires are perennial shrubs, with either a spreading or a more erect habit, up to 1 metre high.  Flowering is mostly in summer to autumn, depending on the site latitude.

 Blackseed Samphire grows freely on the salty flats of Southern Australia, particularly in the Mildura region of the Murray-Darling basin, a dense succulent sub-shrub that grows to about one metre in height, but often less.

Mostly found fringing inland clay pans, salty swamps and salt lakes, and are well known for their adaptability to high salinity and flooding.

Samphire species have been foraged by the indigenous people of Australia for tens of thousands of years, and are very popular due to their abundance, delicious flavor and their nutritional value. 

Samphire is considered best for use in summer (from October to March) when the fine young shoots are bright green, aromatic, crunchy and give fresh salty burst of flavour.

Bush Food: As well as consuming the succulent shoot system of many species of Samphire, the aboriginal people of the Victorian goldfields would also harvest the seeds of the Blackseed Samphire and make them into a kind of cake called Kurumi. 

Tecticornia pergranulata is also part of a separate group called the Glassworts, the ashes of which yield soda ash, an important ingredient for glass and soap making.

Germination: Under controlled conditions, seed germination is affected by soil salinity, temperatures and seed scarification. In practical terms, samphires will germinate in spring after soils have been leached by rainfall and/or floodwaters.