Seasonal Wild Flowers

Eastern Rocket

Sisymbrium orientale

Brassicaceae

March to December

Found patchily throughout the country, but it is less

common in the far North.

See the BSBI distribution map for Eastern Rocket

Eastern Rocket is a neophyte which was first

cultivated in the UK in the late 1730s.

It has been known in the wild since the 1850s, and

is found on waste-ground and beside roads.

I have usually seen it growing in the crack formed

between the base of a wall and pavement.

It is on the increase.

Eastern Rocket is a sprawling, annual herb, growing up to

80cm.

Flowers are up to 9mm, yellow with 4 separated petals,

which are longer than the sepals.

There are 6 stamens with yellow anthers.

There is a long style with a large, slightly bilobed stigma.

Upper leaves are only slightly lobed, but lower leaves have

a long, rocket-shaped terminal lobe with 2 fin-shaped lobes

on either side at the base.

The seed pods (siliquae) are up to 10cm long and not

closely aligned with the stem.

Eastern Rocket at the base of a wall

Flower and pod with short style

Rocket-shaped, lobed leaf

Long seed pods