Dame's Rocket

Here's a non-native plant that can catch your attention in the spring, a Dame's Rocket. Apparently the are frequently confused with some of our native phloxes, though a careful look should prevent this misidentification:

  • Dame's Rocket has 4 petals while a self-respecting phlox should have 5 petals.
  • Dame's Rocket employs an alternate leafing strategy, where you'll see a leaf coming off the stem without another leaf on the exact opposite side of the stem. Instead you'll need to look above or below the stem to find a leaf on the opposite side of the stem. (Look at my 2nd picture.) Phloxes, on the other hand, will have leaves on a stem that are directly opposite each other.

Despite superficial similarities, Dame's Rocket isn't particularly closely related to phloxes; Dame's Rocket is a type of mustard [1] while phloxes have a family of their own. Dame's Rocket is supposed to smell the sweetest at twilight, suggesting to me that it traditionally attracts the night shift pollinators.

They got the "dame" part of their name because they were considered favorites of women gardeners [2], though I don't have an explanation for the "rocket" part. Some sources claim that by deceiving people into thinking it doesn't smell good until nighttime give it the rocket part of it's name ... but what a rocket has to do with deceit is beyond me. (If they claimed the flowers are like "an explosion of color", I'd buy that.)

As non-native plants that can escape into the wild, you're not encouraged to garden with these despite their visual and olfactory appeal.

May 10, 2023 at Delaware Raritan Canal
Photo 282313275, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

May 10, 2023 at Delaware Raritan Canal
Photo 282313295, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

May 10, 2023 at Delaware Raritan Canal
Photo 282313324, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

[1] Given that Dame's Rocket is in the mustard family, I'm sure the foraging-inclined want to know if they can be eaten, and it sounds like the leaves and seeds are sometimes used in salads. But before you run outside and go all Cookie Monster on the Dame's Rockets that you see, bear in mind that some of our wild plants have encountered pesticides, animal urine, and other things that probably shouldn't be in your mouth.

[2] Some queens liked it too; it was considered the favorite flower of Marie Antoinette.

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