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Shore Plants and Seagrasses | 41

Identifying Pacific Seaweeds

Coast Cakile Project by Professor Roger Cousens (University of Melbourne); the project’s website provides further information on differentiating these species.

Habitat & Distribution

Cakile edentula is most commonly found on moist to wet sandy beaches and dunes above the spray zone. In our region its distribution stretches from Alaska to California.

Fragaria chiloensis Coastal strawberry

Angiospearmae Family Rosaceae

Description

Fragaria (Latin=strawberry) chiloensis is a perennial herb and member of the rose family. Plants grow from a thick, short rhizome to form low-lying shrubs that spread by thin, leafless runners. Leaves are divided into three pale green, hairy, egg-shaped leaflets (each 1.5–4 cm/0.6–1.6 in long) with serrated mar-gins. This species has thicker, more leathery leaves than other strawberries, a necessary feature for life in the windy, salty spray of the seashore. Flowers have five round-to-egg-shaped white petals and grow in clusters of 5–15. Fragaria chiloensis was crossed with another strawberry species to create the modern garden variety. The berries of F. chiloensis are smaller than garden strawberries, 1–1.5 cm (0.4–0.6 in) in diameter, but are sweeter and more delicious. Several

Fragaria chiloensis. Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons