Cakile-maritimum_6

Description:

Cakile maritima Scop.Sea Rocket, DE: Europischer Meersenf, CR: primorska morguaSlo.: morska gorjuaDat.: June 22. 2010Lat.: 44.39660 Long.: 14.80066Code: Bot_431/2010_DSC2814Habitat: Adriatic Sea shore, flat terrain, pebble beach, open place, full sun, only a few mm away of sea water; elevation 1.5 m (6 feet); average precipitations ~ 1.000 mm/year, average temperature about 14 deg C, Mediterranean phytogeographical region. Substratum: sandy soil among stones.Place: Adriatic Sea; Island Olib, 'Slatina' beach, Kvarner bay, Rijeka region, Croatia EC.Comment: Cakile maritima is a typical Mediterranean species of huge family Cruciferae, which is generally easy to recognize by (usually) opposite leaves and four separate sepals and petals forming a typical cross. It is common throughout the Mediterranean and Black Sea regions and on Canard islands. Yet, it is almost extinct from the short Slovenian Adriatic Sea shore because of development. Cakile maritima is a modest, non-spectacular plant, with tender, white to pink or pale violet flowers with pleasant odor and lot of honey. When it starts to flower their buds and flowers are in densely packed inflorescence, but later, when seeds develop its flowering stalks gradually become much, much longer. It grows very close to the sea, on sand and pebble beaches in an area, which is often splashed by waves and hence it must be a salt tolerant plant. Indeed it tastes salty and slightly burning similar to a kind of mustard. Its seeds are spread by sea water streams on long distances. For this purpose its seeds float on water. Pravilnik o uvrstitvi ogroenih rastlinskih in ivalskih vrst v rdei seznam, Uradni list RS, t. 82/2002 (Regulation of enlisting of endangered plant and animal species onto Red List, Official Gazette of Republic Slovenia, no. 82/2002) (2002). Enlisted in the Slovene Red List of rare and endangered species, marked by "E" representing a critically endangered species.Ref.:(1) A. Martini et all., Mala Flora Slovenije (Flora of Slovenia - Key) (in Slovenian), Tehnina Zaloba Slovenije (2007), p 452. (2) I. Schnfelder, P. Schnfelder, Kosmos Atlas Mittelmeer- und Kanarenflora, Kosmos, (2002), p 60.(x) I. Schnfelder, P. Schnfelder, Was blht am Mittelmeer? Kosmos (2000), p xx.(3) M. Blamey, C. Grey-Wilson, Wild Flowers of the Mediterranean, A & C Black, London (2005), p 68.(4) R. Domac, Flora Hrvatske (Flora of Croatia) (in Croatian), kolska Knjiga, Zagreb (1994), p 127.