DAME'S VIOLET
SWEET ROCKET
Hesperis Matronalis
Cabbage Family [Brassicaceae] 
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Cabbage Family [Brassicaceae]
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flower
morph
petals
stem
smell
scent
| 12th June 2008, Litton, Derbyshire. | Photo: © RWD |
| White and lilac forms together. |
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| 14th June 2003, Tixal, Derbyshire. | Photo: © RWD |
| Grows up to a metre in height on stiff stems. Last years old and now brittle and straw-coloured stems are often intermingled with new growth. |
| 25th May 2005, Reddish Vale, Greater Manchester. | Photo: © RWD |
| The leaves are lanceolate with small teeth. The flowers white or pale lilac with four petals in a small cluster near the top of the stem. |
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| 20th June 2008, Laxey Wheel Mines area, Isle of Man. | Photo: © RWD |
| Colour can vary to deeper purple shades. |
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| 20th June 2008, Laxey Wheel Mines area, Isle of Man. | Photo: © RWD |
| The seed pods arise in the middle of the flower and start at the bulge where the petals and sepals were once attached. |
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| 20th June 2008, Laxey Wheel Mines area, Isle of Man. | Photo: © RWD |
| Pods curve upwards and are long, thin and cylindrical with a cream-coloured blob on the end. |
| 12th June 2008, Litton, Derbyshire. | Photo: © RWD |
| 13th May 2011, Lancaster Canal, Sedgewick, Lancs. | Photo: © RWD |
| This specimen unusually has rounder overlapping petals; most are propellor like. |
| 13th May 2011, Lancaster Canal, Sedgewick, Lancs. | Photo: © RWD |
| Un-opened flower buds are narrow and cylindrical with four green sepals rom which the pink petals protrude slightly. |
| 13th May 2011, Lancaster Canal, Sedgewick, Lancs. | Photo: © RWD |
| Four typical well-separated petals. |
| 13th May 2011, Lancaster Canal, Sedgewick, Lancs. | Photo: © RWD |
| Stems branch alternately, with single leaves just below the branches and elsewhere. The stems are slightly hairy with fuzzy short hairs. |
| 13th May 2011, Lancaster Canal, Sedgewick, Lancs. | Photo: © RWD |
| Leaves are stalkless attaching directly to the stems. |
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| 9th July 2005, Worksop, Nottinghamshire. | Photo: © RWD |
| The leaves are lanceolate, unlike those of Honesty which are heart-shaped. The teeth are irregular. |
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Easily confused with : Honesty but honesty also comes in purple forms, and never lilac. Also the leaves of Dames Violet are lanceolate whereas those of Honesty heart-shaped and more irregular. The flowers have some similarities to Lady's Smock but the leaves are altogether different, and Lady's Smock reaches just half the height and grows in dampish grassy places. The flowers are biennials, producing just foliage in the first year, flowering in the second year, dying the third. The flowers open early spring and may last until August unless a spell of warm weather shortens their duration. The flowers are pleasantly fragrant. Dame's Violet contains about 45µg/g of Calystegines, which are polyhydroxylated nortropanes, of which roughly 85% is Calystegine B3 and 15% Calystegine A5. ANY TEXT GOES HERE |
 Hesperis (Dame's-violet) |
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Cabbage Family [Brassicaceae]
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