Rocketsalad is an annual salad leaf in the cabbage family, grown for its peppery leaves. It bolts quickly in heat, so sow in cool weather and harvest young leaves.
Family
Brassicaceae (Cabbage family)
Grows as
Annual
Light
Full sun, Part shade
Water
Keep soil evenly moist; dry spells make the leaves hot and bolt early.
Soil
Well-drained, fertile garden soil or potting mix.
Temperature
10–24 °C ideal; bolts in hot weather above about 25 °C; tolerates light frost.
How easy
Easy
Safety
Not known to be toxic
Native range
Spain, Morocco to Algeria
Climate
subtropical
About
Eruca vesicaria is a species of Eruca native to Spain, Morocco, and Algeria. Some botanists consider Eruca vesicaria and E. sativa (arugula) to be conspecific. However, they are different in many morphological aspects such as sepal persistence, silique shape, and habit. Most importantly, they do not hybridize freely with each other as there is partial reproductive isolation between them. Plants of the World Online has accepted them as two distinct species.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Eruca vesicaria by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.