Stats

Lifespan: Biennial
Size: Medium
Diet: Photosynthetic
Biome: Temperate woodland
Range: Eurasia
Movement: Sessile
Breeding: Seeds
Defense: Toxins
Status: Common

About

Dame's Rocket is a fragrant Eurasian biennial that lines roadsides and woodland edges with clusters of four-petaled flowers in purple, pink, or white each spring. Its sweet scent intensifies at dusk to attract night-flying moths — a pollination strategy reflected in its genus name Hesperis, Greek for 'evening.'

Life cycle

1.
seed
A dormant seed waits for water and warmth before germinating.
2.
sprout
A first shoot emerges with cotyledon leaves and a tap root reaching down.
3.
sapling
A young plant grows true leaves and a stem or trunk, putting on height each season.
4.
mature
Fully grown, flowering or fruiting at adult size.

Learn more

Taxonomy

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Brassicales
Family: Brassicaceae
Genus: Hesperis
Species: Hesperis matronalis