Plant of the day is: Crambe maritima or sea kale
Thar she is!
No, it does not in fact live in a pineapple under the sea, but it does live BY the sea. Much like sponge-bob's frantic antics, this posts information is going to be a little less organized. Honestly, I'm thinking about the laundry I still have to do tonight.
Taxonomy/Range: It is a member of the Brassicaceae or mustard/crucifer/cabbage family and is in fact very closely related to cabbage. It is a halophyte, not an avid fan of the video game franchise Halo, but a salt tolerant plant that grows wild along many coasts of Europe from the North Atlantic to the Black Sea. It is found along the high tide borders of beaches, while not exceptionally common, it can form some impressive colonies. Sadly, in the UK, a few protections have been required to protect them from harvesting and habitat loss. That being said, it is a relatively hardy plant I think will be around for some time.
Description: A perennial with a deep root system that can handle drought very well. Obviously salt tolerant, and a few sources have conflicting information about soil types it will tolerate. I think it will likely tolerate a wide range of soils provided they are decently drained. It is cold hardy down to -20C, which sounds like a lot but that is only really -4F, we can get that here in Saint Louis on any given winter. Foliage is VERY attractive, with large showy glaucous leaves (blue-green). Habit is mound forming and slowly spreading. Larger plants can be divided but establishing plants don't take particularly well to transplanting. I don't feel like/have the time to get super botany(ey) with the flower description but as an insight, the Brassicaceae family in general has very uniform flowers in terms of features. They have 4 petals and 4 sepals and have 6 stamens with 4 long ones and 2 short ones. Flowers occur in racemes or large panicles of small white flowers that smell quite wonderful. The bees are reportedly quite fond of it as well.
Glaucous indeed!
Culture: Not particularly difficult to grow from seed but appreciated cooler temps (50-60F) for germination and is very irregular (not all germinate at once). I wonder if a quick soak (30mins) of a low ppm GA3 solution wouldn't help with some of those problems. I've soaked other Brassicaceae seeds for short times without serious germination issues. Once seedlings emerge, transplant into a deeper container and grow to about 4 inches before planting in its intended site.
Food and History: It's supposed to be quite tasty and I'd like to sink my teeth in some. It is a fairly common find in markets in the UK and France but I wouldn't hold your breath looking for it here. If anyone has a good source feel free to let me know. The young leaves can be blanched which essentially means you cover the young emerging leaves so they don't develop chlorophyll and/or other compounds which can make the leaf taste unpleasant (usually more bitter). Gaining popularity in the mid 1700s, people used to throw shingles on top of emerging plants to blanch them. They became quite a bit more popular when Thomas Jefferson mentioned them in his Garden Book of 1809 (I'll clearly be looking into this more). Fascinating. For more food stuffs. Hunt away. Many halophytes make tasty meals apparently.
I blanch at the thought!
Fun fact: Crambe is derived from the Greek word Krambh which means a cabbage like plant and maritima for 'of the sea.'
And now a pretty inflorescence.
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