Scientific Name
Cakile edentula (Bigelow) Hook.
Common Name(s)
American Searocket, Sea Kale, Sea Rocket
Synonym(s)
Bunias edentula, Cakile edentula subsp. edentula, Cakile edentula var. typica, Cakile lanceolata subsp. edentula, Cakile lanceolata var. edentula
Scientific Classification
Family: Brassicaceae
Tribe: Brassiceae
Genus: Cakile
Description
Cakile edentula is an annual succulent shrub with erect or rarely prostrate, much-branched stems and fleshy, edible leaves that grow along the stem and have various teeth and lobe patterns. It can grow up to 32 inches (80 cm) tall.
The flowers are radially symmetrical and have four white to pale purple petals. Fruits are small, green, and up to 0.8 inches (2 cm) in diameter. The fruits are green, cylindrical, acute, blunt, or retuse at the tip, up to 1.2 inches (3 cm) long and 0.4 inches (1 cm) in diameter, and do not split open when ripe.
Origin
Cakile edentula is native to North America. It grows on the dunes of coastal beaches and shorelines of freshwater lakes on the East Coast of the United States and Canada.
Hardiness
It is grown as an annual plant, so it has no USDA hardiness zone.
How to Grow and Care
Searocket grows and exists in the sandy soil closer to the ocean than the beach grass. This plant actually prefers sandy conditions. As a succulent, it holds water, making growing Searocket even easier.
When growing Searocket, don't include it as part of a vegetable garden. Companions for Searocket cultivation must be of the same family. If the Searockets detect roots of other plants close to it, an "allelopathic" action occurs. Searocket releases a substance into the root zone that stunts or otherwise deters plants of other types.
Searocket puts a long taproot into the soil and does not like to be moved. Start it from the double-jointed seed pods when they appear on the plant and mature, following the small purple blooms. This taproot makes the plant an excellent choice to hold and stabilize sandy soils that may be eroding.
See more at How to Grow and Care for a Searocket.
Links
- Back to genus Cakile
- Succupedia: Browse succulents by Scientific Name, Common Name, Genus, Family, USDA Hardiness Zone, Origin, or cacti by Genus
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