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UK Nature  > Wild Flowers  > White Wild Flowers  > Cakile maritima

  • Close up of flower
  • Overall view of plant
  • Close up of leaves



Scientific Name:   Cakile maritima
Common Name:   Sea Rocket

Cakile maritima, commonly known as Sea Rocket, is a common plant in the mustard family. It is widespread around the UK, especially on coastal sand, shingle, dunes, and occasionally rocks. It is a scruffy, branching plant with succulent leaves, some linear, some pinnately lobed. The small flowers may be pale lilac, white or the palest of pinks, and the seedpods can float on sea water without losing their viability, thus helping dispersion. Flowers June to August.

This is an annual plant which grows in clumps or mounds in the sand on beaches and dunes. The shiny leaves are fleshy, green and tinted with purple or magenta, and long-lobed. It has white to light purple flowers and sculpted, segmented, corky brown fruits one to three centimeters long. The fruits float and are water-dispersed.










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