White wall rocket
Diplotaxis erucoides
Family · Brassicaceae · Harmless
The white that covers inland olive groves and vineyards in the middle of winter, when almost nothing else flowers. It tastes strongly of rocket, and is literally its cousin.
Fields and pasture · Town and roadside · Roadsides and waste ground
Also known aswhite rocket
How to tell it
Four white petals in a cross, often purple-veined, over a rosette of lobed leaves. A clear rocket smell and taste when you bite a leaf. A long thin pod. Range: mainly a Spanish plant, practically absent from Portugal.
What it is confused with
Shepherd's purse
Capsella bursa-pastoris
Both white-flowered and both edible. The fruit separates them effortlessly: long and thin here, a flat heart on shepherd's purse.
What it is for
Young leaves in salad, peppery, and cooked in several regions of Spain and Italy. It counts as an olive-grove weed and is an excellent winter nectar plant.
Traditionally used as food. This is not permission to eat it.
Where it occurs
Each square is an area with recorded observations of this plant. The lighter background is the set of areas where any of the entries has been observed, and serves as a reference. Note what this is not: it is not where the plant lives, it is where people record it, so trails and towns always look fuller than the mountains. Data from GBIF.
Sources
Community
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