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 ...