Plant Listings

Cakile lanceolata (Willd.) O.E. Schulz

Common Names: Sea Rocket, Gardena, Pork Bush

Family: Brassicaceae

Habit: Cakile lanceolata grows as a spreading semi succulent annual herb to 80 centimeters in height. The leaves are arranged alternately to 12 centimeters in length and 3 centimeters wide. The blade is oblong to lanceolate with a toothed margin and a rounded leaf apex.

The complete, perfect, actinomorphic flowers are in open racemes up to 40 centimeters in length. The calyx has 4 unfused, green sepals in 2 sizes; the outer set linear and the inner set oblong. The corolla has 4 unfused white petals. There are 6 functional stamens and 2 staminodes. The elongated, superior ovary with 2 locules separated by a replum. The cylindrical fruit is a many seeded silique.

Habitat: Cakile lanceolata grows in Dunes, coastal Dry Broadleaf Evergreen Formation - Palm Woodlands, and the edges of saline wetlands.

Distribution: Cakile lanceolata occurs throughout the Lucayan Archipelago, Caribbean, Florida, Mexico, Central America, and northern South America.

Medicinal/Cultural/Economic Usage: Cakile lanceolata is not used medicinally in the Lucayan Archipelago.