From Geoff Boocock
Maidstone, Kent
You are mistaken in implying that Crithmum maritimum is an
exclusively Mediterranean plant
(In Brief, 30 August, p 21). It grows on English
coasts as rock samphire, its gathering is documented by Shakespeare in King
Lear (Act 4, Scene 6) and Dover celebrated its presence near Shakespeare
Cliff by naming the new land created by the builders of the Channel Tunnel
“Samphire Hoe”.
Our own common lizard, Lacerta vivipara, also has a sweet tooth,
like the Spanish one that drinks the nectar of C. maritimum. It has
been reported as eating brown sugar and licking honeydew from leaves. I have yet
to hear that it helps pollination by quaffing nectar.
