Consider-the-Lilies Web Gallery
Early Yellowrocket
This colorful member of the Mustard (Brassicaceae) family turns the meadows of the Shenandoah Valley golden every April. Other members of this family on display in the Gallery include the early blooming Hairy Bittercress, Shepherd's Purse, Whitlow-grass and Garlic Mustard, as well as the later blooming Dames Rocket.
Native to southwestern Europe, this flowering herb, along with several other of its cousins found in Virginia, has been cultivated as a salad crop in England since the 17th century.
Also known as Upland Cress, "it is highly nutritious, providing iron, calcium, beta carotene, and vitamin C," which probably explains another common name: Scurvy Weed.
Brought to North America by the first settlers, it was planted in their kitchen gardens, from which it escaped to transform the meadows of Virginia every Spring.
(Other naturalized lilies in the Gallery are Chicory, Dames Rocket, Foxtail Grass, Viper's Bugloss, Speedwell, and Perennial Sweet Pea .)
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