Sea Kale
Crambe maritima
Brassicaceae
Other names
Sea Cabbage, Sea Colewort, Seakale
Growth habit
Herbaceous
Perennation
Long-lived polycarpic perennial
Native distribution
Europe, N Africa, SW Asia
Biocultural value
A coastal European perennial whose tender young leafstalks can be cooked and eaten like asparagus.
Location
Source of plant
J.L. Hudson, Seedsman
Description
Perennial, 30-75cm. Base thick, fleshy, branched, purple-grey or slightly woody. Stem thick, branched, glabrous, glaucous purple. Leaves 12-30cm, fleshy, blue-glaucous, elliptic or nearly round, undulate-crispate to irregularly pinnatifid; flowering stem leaves becoming narrower on upper part of stem. Flowers 10-16mm diameter, in dense corymbose racemes to 0.5m; petals 6-10mm, blade white, claw tinged green. Fruit lower segments 1-4mm, upper segments 7-12mm, ovoid; pedicel 8-26mm.
USDA Hardiness Zone
5
Special characteristics
food