Cakile maritima

European searocket

Family: Brassicaceae · Type: perennial · Not Native

Conservation status: Cal-IPC Yes

European searocket is a naturalized plant found along California's coastal bioregions including North Coast, Central Coast, Southern Coast, and Channel Islands on beach dunes at elevations below 100 meters. Flowering from May to November, this plant produces white to lavender flowers with petals 8 to 14 millimeters long. Growing with stems that are prostrate or mound-forming to erect and reaching up to 80 centimeters tall, it has a distinctive spreading growth habit. Its leaves are broadly ovate to lanceolate, attached to stems with visible petioles, creating a textured green backdrop for the delicate flowers. The fruit is 1.2 to 2.7 centimeters long with a terminal segment that is generally four-sided and tapered to an acute or blunt tip.

Habitat: Beach dunes

Bloom period: May-Nov

Elevation: < 100 m

Bioregions: NCo, CCo, SCo, ChI

California counties: Ventura, Del Norte, Monterey, Orange, San Diego, San Mateo, Sonoma, San Luis Obispo, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, Humboldt, Mendocino, Alameda, Marin, Contra Costa, Santa Cruz

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.