ONH Plants - European Searocket

European Searocket

Cakile maritima

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1 - European Searocket, Cakile maritima.
09/27/2022 Mouth of the Elwha River, west, Port Angeles, Washington
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2 - European Searocket.
09/27/2022 Mouth of the Elwha River, west, Port Angeles, Washington
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3 - European Searocket, looking north to the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Vancouver Island.
11/24/2022 Mouth of the Elwha River, west, Port Angeles, Washington
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4 - European Searocket.
09/23/2022 Ediz Hook, Port Angeles, Washington
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5 - European Searocket flower.
09/23/2022 Ediz Hook, Port Angeles, Washington
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6 - European Searocket flower.
09/23/2022 Ediz Hook, Port Angeles, Washington
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7 - European Searocket flower.
09/23/2022 Ediz Hook, Port Angeles, Washington
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8 - European Searocket flower.
05/23/2009 Point Wilson Beach, Fort Worden State Park, Washington
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9 - European Searocket flower.
09/22/2022 Mouth of the Elwha River, west, Port Angeles, Washington
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10 - European Searocket flower, focus stack from dissecting microscope. Note bright yellow pollen.
Collected 09/23/2022 Ediz Hook, Port Angeles, Washington
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11 - European Searocket, note fleshy leaves.
09/27/2022 Mouth of the Elwha River, west, Port Angeles, Washington
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12 - European Searocket, note fleshy leaves .
09/27/2022 Mouth of the Elwha River, west, Port Angeles, Washington
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13 - European Searocket fruit, or silique.
09/23/2022 Ediz Hook, Port Angeles, Washington
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14 - European Searocket fruit. One fruit has been dissected to show the structures that will form a seed in each segment.
11/25/2022 Mouth of the Elwha River, west, Port Angeles, Washington
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15 - European Searocket fruit, begining to dry. The fruit will crack along the saddle-shaped line near the stem. The tip section falls off.
09/23/2022 Ediz Hook, Port Angeles, Washington
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16 - European Searocket basal segments of several fully dried fruits attached to the plant stem. The tip segments have fallen off.
09/27/2022 Mouth of the Elwha River, west, Port Angeles, Washington
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17 - European Searocket fruit. The tip segments are lying on sand below the plant.
09/27/2022 Mouth of the Elwha River, west, Port Angeles, Washington
ants
18 - European Searocket flowers with ants pollinating the flowers.
09/22/2022 Mouth of the Elwha River, west, Port Angeles, Washington
bumblebee
19 - European Searocket flowers with Black-tailed Bumble Bee, Bombus melanopygus, pollinating.
05/27/2017 Ediz Hook, Port Angeles, Washington
yfbbee
20 - European Searocket flowers with Yellow-faced Bumble Bee, Bombus caliginosus or vosnesenskii, pollinating.
08/28/2023 Mouth of the Elwha River, Port Angeles, Washington
honeybee
21 - European Searocket flowers with Western Honey Bee, Apis mellifera, pollinating.
10/11/2022 Mouth of the Elwha River, west, Port Angeles, Washington
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22 - European Searocket flowers with Western Honey Bee, Apis mellifera, pollinating.
09/23/2006 Shi Shi Beach, Olympic National Park, Washington
wasp
23 - European Searocket flower with a Thread-waisted Wasp, Prionyx sp., pollinating. For more information see Thread-waisted Wasp in menu.
09/23/2022 Ediz Hook, Port Angeles, Washington
cabbagewhite
24 - European Searocket flowers with Cabbage White Butterfly, Pieris rapae, pollinating.
09/04/2019 Mouth of the Elwha River, Port Angeles, Washington
22 - European Searocket flowers with Cabbage White Butterfly, Pieris rapae, pollinating.
09/04/2019 Mouth of the Elwha River, Port Angeles, Washington
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25 - European Searocket flowers with Cabbage White Butterfly, Pieris rapae, pollinating.
07/14/2018, Ediz Hook, Port Angeles, Washington
copper
26 - European Searocket flowers with Purplish Copper Butterfly, Lycaena helloides, pollinating.
06/02/2018 Ediz Hook, Port Angeles, Washington
orange
27 - European Searocket flowers with Orange Sulfur Butterfly, Colias eurytheme, pollinating.
09/27/2022 Mouth of the Elwha River, west, Port Angeles, Washington
syrphid
28 - European Searocket flowers with Syrphid fly, Syrphus sp. female, pollinating.
10/11/2022 Mouth of the Elwha River, west, Port Angeles, Washington
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29 - European Searocket flowers with Sand wasp Bembix sp.
07/06/2015 Point Wilson Beach, Fort Worden State Park, Washington

Walking along a salt water beach in fall we noticed that most of the flowering plants were done for the year but there was one plant that still had flowers and pollinating insects.

European Searocket, Cakile maritima, grows on sandy salt-water beaches above the tide line. It is salt-tolerant. A member of the mustard family (Brassicaceae), Searocket flowers are small, four-petaled, and range in color from white to pink to light purple. The leaves are fleshy. We’ve seen small plants tucked next to beach logs on Ediz Hook and large bushy plants growing on the sandy salt-water beach west of the mouth of the Elwha River.

Searockets are annual plants and develop from seeds. We’ve seen them in bloom from May to December. Each flower develops a fruit with two easily separated segments; usually each segment forms a seed. The segment at the tip falls off and dries and can be dispersed by wind and water. It can survive floating on salt water up to a year. The segment at the base remains attached to the stem. When the stem dies and falls onto the sand, these seeds sprout in the same general location as the original plant.

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