Dame's Rocket

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, 1/4 to � 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