Today’s featured plant is Dame’s Rocket, Hesperis matronalis.
Dame’s rocket is also known as sweet rocket, white rocket, purple rocket, damask violet, dame’s violet, dames-wort, dame’s gilliflower, queen’s gilliflower, rogue’s gilliflower, winter gilliflower, rucchette, roquette, summer lilac and night-scented gilliflower, vesper flower and mother-of-the-evening (due to its scent being stronger during the evening hours and almost non-existent during the day).
It is in the mustard family (Brassicaceae), like Winter Cress (AKA Yellow Rocket, Barbarea vulgaris). It resembles garden phlox (Phlox paniculata) and Wild Blue Phlox (Phlox divaricata L.), but Dame’s Rocket flowers have four petals and phlox flowers have five. (All members of the mustard family have four petals.)
/* ]]> */