Sea rocket
size:
plant: 10-60 tall
flower: 1 centimeter
seed: 1-3 centimeters
color:
flower: white or purple
fruit: corky brown
blossoms:
June to October
dispersion of seeds:
via water and wind
pollination:
via insects
- Dut: Zeeraket
- Lat: Cakile maritima
- Eng: Sea Rocket
- Fren: Cakilier
- Ger: Meersenf
- Dan: Strandsennep
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- Sea rocket, foto fitis, sytske dijksen
Sea rocket
Life on a wind-blown beach plain is not easy, but sea rocket is a hardy plant that is able to withstand such rough circumstances. It grows relatively far from the high tide line on top of buried flood marks or other organic material, just like sand couch. Without these nutrients, particualrly nitrogen, sea rocket cannot grow. Both sea rocket and sand couch are important plants for dune formation. Onces they take root, they catch sand which slowly turns into a dune.
- Distribution and habitat
- Sea rocket, foto fitis, sytske dijksen
Sea rocket grows on beaches and bluffs along most European coasts. It used to be a common plant along the Dutch North Sea coast, however coastal erosion has made it more scarse. Despite the closure of the Zuiderzee, the plant still grows in scattered places along the IJsselmeer. You even find it occasionally on building sites or other areas where sea sand has been dumped.
- Blowing in the wind
- Sea rocket, seedling, foto fitis, sytske dijksen
Unlike sand couch which is a perennial, sea rocket is an annual. Therefore it needs to produce seeds in order to survive. Sea rocket has several ways to spread them. Besides just falling directly on the ground, the corky fruits can drift up to a week long in water before washing ashore and germinating. In addition, when the plant dries up in the autumn, it easily breaks off from its root and tumbles over the surface by the wind, dropping seeds along the way. You see this same mechanism on deserts and other hot dry surfaces.
See also
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