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Cakile maritima

Species of plant in family Brassicaceae

Cakile maritima, sea rocket (Britain and Ireland) or European searocket (North America), is a common plant in the mustard family Brassicaceae. It is widespread in Europe, North Africa and western Asia, especially on coastlines. It can now be found in many other areas of the world where it has been introduced. It is present on the west and east coasts of North America, where it has the potential to become an invasive species. This is an annual plant which grows in clumps or mounds in the sand on beaches and bluffs. The shiny leaves are fleshy, green and tinted with purple or magenta, and long-lobed. It has white to light purple flowers and sculpted, segmented, corky brown fruits one to three centimetres long. The fruits float and are water-dispersed.

Description

It is a glabrous, succulent annual, with a slender or stout taproot. It has a branched stem which is prostrate or ascending, growing up to 15 - long. The lobed leaves, It blooms in the UK, between June and August. The small flowers occur in shades of white, lilac-coloured or purple, Münir Öztürk, Yoav Waisel, M. Ajman Khan, Güven Görk (Editors)

Phytochemistry

Due to its highly efficient antioxidant system, it can withstand even high doses of Cadmium pollution.

Taxonomy

It was published and described by Giovanni Antonio Scopoli in 'Fl. Carniol.' edition 2, Vol.2 on page 35, in 1772.

The Latin specific epithet maritima means "of the sea".

Subspecies

Distribution and habitat

Cakile maritima is native to temperate areas of North Africa, western Asia and Europe.

Range

It is found in Africa within Algeria, the Canary Islands, Egypt, Libya, the Madeira Islands, Morocco and Tunisia. In Western Asia, it is found in the Caucasus, Georgia, Iran, Israel, Syria and Turkey. In Eastern Europe, it is found in Estonia and Ukraine. In middle Europe, it is found within Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and Poland. In Northern Europe, in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom. In South-eastern Europe, within Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Italy, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia. In Southwestern Europe, within France, Portugal and Spain. It is also widely naturalised outside of its native range, in North America.

Habitat

It grows on the foreshores near large dune systems, and in shingle banks. It is tolerant of salt spray and transient seawater inundation. It is pollinated by a wide range of insects, from Apis mellifera, Eristalis intricarius and Pieris rapae.

Veterinary significance

As the seed oil contains a high level of erucic acid it can have pathological effects on the cardiac muscle of several animal species. However, orange-bellied parrots feed on its seed during their northward migrating journey from Tasmania and Australia.

Uses

The leaves are edible, preferably cooked, and not eaten in great quantity. The seed oil can be used for industrial applications.

References

''Cakile maritima'' GBIF.org (28 November 2018) GBIF Occurrence Download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.h2gy2e
"''Cakile maritima'' Scop.".
Clive Stace, ''New Flora of the British Isles'' 4th edition 2019, p 441
(3 May 2006). "Biological flora of the British Isles: ''Cakile maritima'' Scop.". Journal of Ecology.
(1981). "Reader's Digest Field Guide to the Wild Flowers of Britain". [[Reader's Digest]].
(March–April 2007). "Salinity effects on polyphenol content and antioxidant activities in leaves of the halophyte ''Cakile maritima''". Plant Physiology and Biochemistry.
(April 2015). "Proteomic and metabolic profiles of ''Cakile maritima'' Scop. Sea Rocket grown in the presence of cadmium.". Mol. Biosyst..
"Cakile maritima Scop. is an accepted name". theplantlist.org.
(October 2019). "Brassicaceae Cakile maritima Scop.". ipni.org.
Allen J. Coombes {{google books. capqDQYT_VYC&. The A to Z of Plant Names: A Quick Reference Guide to 4000 Garden Plants
"Taxon: Cakile maritima Scop.". ars-grin.gov.
Nyerges, Christopher. (2017). "Foraging Washington: Finding, Identifying, and Preparing Edible Wild Foods". Falcon Guides.

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

brassicaceae flora-of-europe flora-of-north-africa flora-of-western-asia flora-of-the-canary-islands flora-of-madeira flora-of-the-caucasus leaf-vegetables plants-described-in-1772 taxa-named-by-giovanni-antonio-scopoli flora-of-lebanon

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