Index / Search / Hesperis matronalis
§1 Plant — species · Brassicaceae
Hesperis matronalis L.
vernacular dames rocket
§2Habit & range
Habit and range
- Growth habit
- Forb/herb
- Duration
- Biennial, Perennial
- Group
- Dicot
- Family
- Brassicaceae Burnett
- Genus
- Hesperis
§2a
Native status, by region
- AK Alaska Introduced
- CAN Canada Introduced
- L48 Lower 48 States Introduced
§3Cultivation specs · USDA
Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.
§3a
Tolerances
- Drought
- Medium
- Shade
- Medium
- Moisture use
- Medium
- Fire
- Low
- Salinity
- None
- Anaerobic
- None
- CaCO₃
- Low
- Hedging
- None
§3b
Climate & soil
- Cold tolerance
- -23 °F minimum
- Frost-free days
- 120 min.
- Precipitation
- 32–60 in/yr
- pH range
- 5–7
- Root depth
- 12 in min.
- Fertility need
- Medium
- Soil texture
- medium
§3c
Form & growth
- Growth form
- Bunch
- Growth rate
- Rapid
- Lifespan
- Short
- Mature height
- 4.5 ft
- Foliage texture
- Medium
- Foliage colour
- Green
- Porosity (summer)
- Moderate
- Porosity (winter)
- Porous
- Flower colour
- Purple
- Fruit colour
- Brown
- Fire resistant
- No
- N fixation
- None
- Toxicity
- None
§3d
Reproduction
- Bloom period
- Spring
- Seed abundance
- Medium
- Seed begins
- Summer
- Seed ends
- Fall
- Spread rate
- Moderate
- Stratify
- No
- Seeds / lb
- 224,000
- Propagation
- seed, container
§3e
Use & availability
- Commercial availability
- No Known Source
- Nursery stock
- Yes
- Browse palatability
- Low
- Graze palatability
- Low
- Palatable, human
- No
- Protein potential
- High
- Lumber
- No
- Christmas tree
- No
§4Montana distribution
Recorded in 34 of 56 Montana counties.
Introduced · 34 counties
- Big Horn 30003
- Blaine 30005
- Broadwater 30007
- Carbon 30009
- Carter 30011
- Chouteau 30015
- Fallon 30025
- Fergus 30027
- Flathead 30029
- Gallatin 30031
- Glacier 30035
- Golden Valley 30037
- Hill 30041
- Lake 30047
- Lincoln 30053
- McCone 30055
- Musselshell 30065
- Park 30067
- Phillips 30071
- Pondera 30073
- Powder River 30075
- Powell 30077
- Ravalli 30081
- Roosevelt 30085
- Rosebud 30087
- Sanders 30089
- Silver Bow 30093
- Stillwater 30095
- Sweet Grass 30097
- Teton 30099
- Toole 30101
- Valley 30105
- Wibaux 30109
- Yellowstone 30111
§5Sources & provenance
USDA PLANTS
Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.
plants.usda.gov/HEMA3 ↗GBIF Backbone
Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.
gbif.org/species/3042291 ↗Record version
Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:
usda-plants-mt-2026-05-25
fetched 2026-05-25T16:28:53Z