Sea Holly

Sea Holly among the dunes at Southport. My resident forager says the roots were once used to make sweets. Being related to the carrot not holly the roots can be also eaten like a vegetable and the young shoots like asparagus. The flower-heads are a misty blue during the summer months and are probably more threatened by being stuffed into vases for floral displays than from rising sea levels. Although they die back like this one in the winter they grow back from the roots in the spring.