Wild radish is an annual or biennial weed in the cabbage family, native to Europe, North Africa and western Asia and now invasive in many regions. It grows fast in disturbed ground, roadsides and fields, and needs little care beyond full sun.
Family
Brassicaceae (Cabbage family)
Grows as
Annual
Light
Full sun
Water
Needs little supplementary water; it copes well with dry, disturbed ground.
Soil
Tolerates a wide range of soils, including poor and disturbed ground.
Temperature
Grows in temperate climates; frost-tolerant as a young plant, frost-sensitive when flowering in hot weather. Exact limits not in sources.
How easy
Easy
Safety
Not known to be toxic
Edible
Yes, some parts
Native range
Europe to Medit. and C. Asia
Climate
temperate
About
Raphanus raphanistrum, also known as wild radish, white charlock or jointed charlock, is a flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae. The species is native to western Asia, Europe and parts of Northern Africa. It has been introduced into most parts of the world and is regarded as a habitat threatening invasive species in many areas, for example, Australia. It spreads rapidly and is often found growing on roadsides or in other places where the ground has been disturbed. The cultivated radish, widely used as a root vegetable, is sometimes considered to be one of its subspecies as Raphanus raphanistrum subsp. sativus.
Where it grows
It is native to temperate regions of North Africa, Europe and parts of Western Asia.
Uses
All tender parts of the plant are edible. The leaves and flowers have a spicy taste or aftertaste. The seedpods can be eaten, as can the outer skin of the root (after being washed). It is said that John Walker cultivated sea radish root as an alternative to horseradish after discovering the plant on the west coast of Scotland as early as 1753.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Raphanus raphanistrum 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.