Yellow rocket is a mustard native to Eurasia that was introduced long ago and today is found across North America. It is a leafy, much-branched plant that can grow to 2 feet tall.
The flowers are many, crowded, bright yellow, with the typical mustard-family configuration of 4 petals in a crosslike formation, about ⅜ inch across. Blooms April–June.
The leaves are featherlike, with the terminal section oval or circular and much larger than the sections below; the lower leaves are on long petioles (leaf stems); the stem leaves are often sessile (stalkless).
The fruit is a long seedpod (technically, a silique); these form at the bottom of the cluster as new flowers open at the tips of the flower stalks.
Height: to 2 feet.
Statewide.
Habitat and Conservation
Occurs in cultivated and fallow fields and pastures, on stream banks, along roadsides and railroads, in waste places, and in a variety of open, disturbed areas.
This member of the mustard family is a native of Europe and Asia that is widely naturalized in North America. It has been here so long that there are historical records of Cherokees using it medicinally.
Status
Nonnative wildflower long established in North America.
Human Connections
Young leaves have been eaten cooked or raw, although newer evidence indicates that chemicals in this plant can cause kidney trouble. Historically, it was used medicinally as a tea to treat a number of ailments.
The mustard family, which includes familiar garden plants such as broccoli, cabbage, and radishes, used to be called the Cruciferae because of the cross shape formed by the four petals.
Ecosystem Connections
A variety of insects, including ants, bees, and butterflies, harvest nectar and pollen from the flowers.
Several butterfly and moth species use plants in the mustard family as food plants, laying their eggs on the leaves, which the emerging caterpillars eat.
