Dame’s Rocket

Those pink flowers belong to Dame’s Rocket (Hesperis matronis) - and the white-flowered varieties can be seen along the roadside at this time of year, too! Dame’s rocket flowers are one of my favorite salad garnishes. The flowers are sweet-tasting and so beautiful in a spring salad of arugula, radishes and green peas. The four-petaled bloom gives away this plant’s heritage as a Brassica relative, and as you might then guess, the young leaves can be eaten as a bitter green as in many other Brassica species. When in flower, the above-ground parts can be used as a diaphoretic, expectorant and diuretic.