Dame’s-rocket, rocket, dame’s-violet

Stems unbranched basally, often branched distally, 4-8(-11) dm, often eglandular, glabrous distally. Basal leaves withered by flowering, long-petiolate. Cauline leaves short-petiolate; blade narrowly oblong, lanceolate, or broadly ovate, (2-)4-15(-20) cm × (4-)8-40 (-60) mm, base cuneate, margins denticulate or entire, apex acute or acuminate, surfaces pubescent. Fruiting pedicels (5-)7-17(-25) mm. Flowers: sepals 5-8 × 1.5-2 mm; petals (13-)15-20(-22) × 3.5-9 mm, claw 6-12 mm; filaments 2.5-6 mm; anthers 2.5-4 mm. Fruits (4-)6-10(-14) cm × 2-2.5 mm. Seeds (2.5-)3-4 × 1-1.5 mm. 2n = 24.

Flowering Apr-Jul. Gardens, roadsides, oak glades, waste areas, bluffs, floodplains, abandoned fields, railroad embankments, thickets, woodland; 0-2200 m; introduced; Alta., B.C., Man., Nfld. and Labr. (Nfld.), N.S., Ont., P.E.I., Que., Sask.; Ark., Calif., Colo., Conn., Del., D.C., Idaho, Ill., Ind., Iowa, Kans., Ky., Maine, Md., Mass., Mich., Minn., Mo., Mont., Nebr., Nev., N.H., N.J., N.Y., N.C., N.Dak., Ohio, Oreg., Pa., R.I., S.Dak., Tenn., Utah, Vt., Va., Wash., W.Va., Wis., Wyo.; se Europe; c, sw Asia; n Africa; introduced also in South America (Argentina, Chile).