- Differences in the leaves - are there any?
- Differences in flowers - obvious
- Dandelion and rocket - location
You are standing in the garden at the bed you laid out just a few weeks ago. Now there grows a plant that looks like dandelion. Wait a minute: Or is it more rocket? Find out below how to find out which of the two plants it is!
Arugula (pictured here) and dandelion leaves look similar, but the difference becomes clear when it comes to taste
Differences in the leaves - are there any?
If only the leaves are present, it can be quite difficult to distinguish dandelion from arugula just by looking at them. The leaves of both plants are lanceolate, oblong, medium to dark green, smooth and deeply serrated or slit on the edge.
The easiest way to tell the leaves apart is to pick them. The bitter leaves of the dandelion are thinner, smoother and almost waxy coated. The spicy-tasting leaves of rocket or wild rocket are rougher and coarser. They are usually smaller too.
Differences in flowers - obvious
These two herbs are much easier to distinguish during their heyday. On the one hand, the dandelion blooms much earlier in the year. Its flowering time usually begins in April. The arugula only flowers in midsummer, when the dandelion usually takes a break from flowering.
The dandelion blossoms look very different from the blossoms of rocket or wild rocket:
- a single flower per plant
- daisy flowers
- 3 to 5 cm wide
- deep yellow
- completely filled with ray florets
- surrounded by large green bracts
Arugula belongs to the cruciferous family and its flowers are cruciform. They are smaller than those of the dandelion and are grouped together in an inflorescence. They are unfilled and their yellow color is usually a little paler. In addition, they are composed of four rounded and overlapping petals and not umpteen ray florets.
Dandelion and rocket - location
The location requirements of these two plants are also quite different. While the dandelion seeks nutrient-rich, moist soil, the rocket prefers to grow in nutrient-poor and dry soil. It is rarely found in meadows, but rather on roadsides, on fallow land, on railway embankments and scree heaps.
tips
The dandelion is also easily confused with other wild herbs. Caution is therefore called for when collecting and consuming! There's a toxic doppelganger…