Seasonal Wild Flowers

Eastern Rocket

Sisymbrium orientale

Brassicaceae

April to December

It is scattered throughout thecountry but absent from

parts of the North, the South and the far Southwest.

See the BSBI distribution map for Eastern Rocket

It grows on rough, waste ground, alongside railways

and in cracks at the base of walls.

It is a neophyte which has been grown in the UK

since the 1730s and has been recognised as a

naturalised escape since the late 1850s.

It is on the increase.

Eastern Rocket is an annual herb (sometimes

overwintering) growing up to 90cm.

The yellow flowers are up to 7mm across with 4 petals.

The pods start off hairy but lose their hairs on elongation

(up to 10cm)

The leaves are pinnately lobed but the lobes are lanceolate.

Eastern Rocket at the base of a wall

Flowers with forming pods

Young hairy pods

Mature pods

Upper leaves

A lower leaf