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Sea Rocket
Cakile maritima
-38.4686, 145.177
Field Notes
Description:
A succulent halophytic plant that is about a foot high. Grows in clumps and has white or blue flowers. This plant is part of the mustard family and therefore looks very much like wild mustard except for the fact that all parts of the plant look like a succulent. The flowers are 4-petaled. Leaves ae long and lobed and the green fruit pods are segmented and swollen.
Habitat:
salty mud flats above the tide line.
Notes:
Halophytic plants grow in salty conditions. They store water during rainy periods and so can continue to thrive even when the weather turns inhospitable.
This particular species is native to Europe but has spread to the US and other parts of the world. The seed pods become corky and brown and can float in water - thus, the seeds are water dispersed.
an interesting fact: "The seed oil contain high level of erucic acid which 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" - Wikipedia.
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