Eruca sativa

Garden Senfrauke

The Garden Senfrauke ( Eruca vesicaria subsp. Sativa) is a subspecies of Senfrauke ( Eruca vesicaria ), a flowering plant in the family of cruciferous plants ( Brassicaceae). It is under the name of rocket used for consumption in salads.

Surnames

It was formerly classified as a separate species Eruca sativa: Another synonym for Eruca vesicaria subsp. sativa Brassica eruca.

In the German -speaking area there for the Garden Senfrauke a few other names: rocket, Raukenkohl, Ruke, arugula, simply Senfrauke or even arugula. From the English-speaking world, the term " arugula " comes from. See also Related Names.

Description

The Garden Senfrauke grows as an annual ( or biennial ) plant. The upright stalk reaches a height of 15 to 50 centimeters. He is usually branched, striped edges and rauflaumig, more rarely hairy very little, at least in the lower part. The stem leaves are alternate and are significantly smaller than the basal leaves. The leaf base does not cover the stems. The leaves of the Garden Senfrauke are fiederteilig sinuate on each side and have two to four Fiederabschnitte, which are usually entire, but sometimes perforated. The end of the sheet forms a single, opposite the side significantly enlarged section. The leaves are usually glabrous, occasionally with single hairs on the leaf surface. They develop an intense smell, which, depending on personal preference as " spicy aromatic" to described " strange uncomfortable " when rubbed.

The flowers are in a loose, not too reichblütigen racemose inflorescence at the end of the stem and possibly the side branches. The flower stalks are 3-8 mm long and therefore distinctly shorter than the calyx. The hermaphrodite, fourfold bloom is good 1-3 inches long. The four sepals are dark brown violet, narrow - ovate and have at their blunt end of a sometimes quite indistinct white skin edge. The four petals are nailed white with a yellowish tint, and have strong, brown-violet veins. The Garden Senfrauke blooms from May to late summer.

The stalk the adjacent pods are slightly compressed, 20-35 mm long and 3-5 mm thick. There is a 5-9 mm long, flattened bill at the end. The seeds of the garden Senfrauke have a thousand grain weight of 2 grams.

Occurrence

The Garden Senfrauke Eruca sativa originates from the Mediterranean. In Central Europe it is occasionally grown in private gardens and to a lesser extent, in commercial horticulture as a cultivated plant. From there, it is rare wild and then at ruderal sites ( wasteland, roadsides, Waste places, etc.) to be found. Occasionally, they come as a contaminant in seed unintentionally fields. It prefers nutrient-rich sandy or clay soil. In Central Europe it prospers so far only fickle as a wild plant. "Flora Helvetica " is the name for Switzerland established stocks in the Rhone Valley.

Use

The Garden Senfrauke was already used in Roman times in the Mediterranean region as a food and even considered an aphrodisiac.

For use as a salad plant (arugula), the basal leaves are harvested before the Rising of the stem.

In traditional folk medicine, the Garden Senfrauke regarded as appetizing and diuretic.

The seeds served and still serve the oil recovery. In particular, from India, the cultivation of Eruca sativa for this purpose is known, but has no significant economic importance. The oil is primarily used for industrial purposes.

Similar names

The Garden Senfrauke Eruca sativa is also often referred to as arugula. This can lead to confusion with the narrow- double seeds ( Diplotaxis tenuifolia ), which is also offered under this designation. The leaves of Diplotaxis are smaller than that of erucic, the pinnae narrower and the terminal leaflet is not as magnified. Diplotaxis tenuifolia is a Central European fixed naturalized wild plant. It blooms yellow.

Some authors refer to the genus Eruca simply as " rocket ". But then there is the problem that the genus name rauks already more common in the Central Europe, is covered with yellow flowers cruciferous plants of the genus Sisymbrium. So here's the genus by Schmeil - Fitschen Senfrauken is called.

Due to the great similarity in spelling and sound can also come to name confusion between the completely different plant arugula and pound sign ( rue, Ruta graveolens ).

Swell

• Dietmar Aichele, Heinz -Werner Schwegler: Flowering plants of Central Europe. Volume 3: Onagraceae to Madder. Franckh-Kosmos, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-440-08048- X.
• Bavarian State Institute for Viticulture and Horticulture (Ed.): rocket - the rocket. An ancient crop with a Mediterranean flair. In: Bavarian Garden Academy: Leaflet Volume 2168, pp. 1-2, PDF file, 79 kB.