Plants of the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden

Dame's Rocket is an introduced, erect 2 - 5 foot tall biennial, found primarily in the woodland areas. Stems are green with fine hair, usually with little branching at the base but with branching at the top. A basal rosette forms the first year with the flowering stem rising the second year.

Leaves are ovate/lance shaped, toothed and alternate, the upper leaves touch but do not clasp the stem. Lower leaves are longer with a stalk (comparison photo below). Stem and leaves have fine soft hair.

The inflorescence is a loose cluster of stalked flowers, terminal and in smaller clusters from the upper leaf axils.

The fragrant flowers (fragrance mostly noticeable in the evening) are 4-part, tubular with the petals spreading to about one inch wide. Color can vary from white to pink. The calyx tube of the flower is about one inch long, with four linear pointed sepals that have dark green tips - the calyx with fine hair. The four petals are widest toward the tip, slightly ragged edges, an indentation at the tip with a distinct point rising from the bottom of the indentation. Petal bases narrow at the calyx tube. The stamens and pistil are visible only at the mouth of the corolla. Stamens number six and are in 3 sets of pairs with an outer pair shorter than the two inner pairs. The shorter ones each have a nectar gland at their base.

Seed: Dame's Rocket can have a prolonged bloom period, and like most Mustard Family flowers, they open from the bottom of the spike upward, while the long, thin seed pods form below from the decaying lower flowers. Each seed pod ascends slightly from the old flower stalk. Pods (called 'siliques') are long and thin and contain a number of oblong flattened seeds that are dispelled when the pod splits into 2 sections along its longitudinal axis.

Invasive: The plant is an escapee from gardens and is quite a spreader, becoming invasive when control measures are not taken. It is a prohibited plant in several states. Like most plants that become invasive, it grows fast and blooms and seeds early before the less vigorous native plants can take hold. It is, however, very pretty and fragrant.

Habitat: Dame's Rocket grows best in moist soils in partial sun. It has a taproot and secondary fibrous roots and propagates from seed.

Names: The "Rocket" part of the name, according to Mrs. Grieve, (Ref. 7) comes from the language of flowers and "Rocket has been taken to represent deceit since the plant gives off a lovely perfume in the evening, but in the daytime has none." "Rocket" is part of the common name of many plants of Mustard Family. The genus name, Hesperis, is Greek for "evening" or "Vesper-flower", as that is when the fragrance is greatest, and matronalis is Latin and alludes to the March 1st Roman festival of Matrons, and indicates the flower was a favorite of married women - hence altogether - Dame's Rocket. The author name for the plant classification from 1753 - 'L.' is for Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778), Swedish botanist and the developer of the binomial nomenclature of modern taxonomy.

Comparisons: In size and color Dame's Rocket may resemble some of the phlox family plants - but they have 5 petals. In a closer comparison is Fireweed, Epilobium angustifolium, where the flowers are also 4-petaled, magenta in color, the plant is just as tall, but the leaves are linear without the coarse teeth.