Dame's Rocket

Hesperis matronalis L.

Brassicaceae (Mustard Family)

▲ ▼   mature, flowering plant

▲ ▼   inflorescences

▲ leaves on mature plant

▲ ▼   seedling and first  year rosette

Dame’s Rocket:

             ·         European native, biennial or short-lived perennial; grows 1.5 to 4 feet tall

             ·         First  year forms a rosette of lanceolate-triangular, bright green leaves up to 6 inches long with small, sharp teeth on margins; second year sending up a flowering stem with smaller leaves along its length

             ·         Flowers are showy, pinkish-purple to bluish-purple in elongated, branched terminal racemes

             ·         Fruit pods are short, ¼ to ¾ inch long, rounded, and constricted between the seeds; pods are held upright to perpendicular to main flowering stem

             ·         Sometimes planted as an ornamental, but can escape in to open woods, roadsides, non-crop areas—so far, not a serious problem