Eruca sativa

Description

Eruca sativa is an annual plant growing to 20 to in height. The pinnate leaves are deeply lobed with four to ten small, lateral lobes and a large terminal lobe. The flowers are 2 to in diameter, arranged in a corymb, with the typical Brassicaceae flower structure. The petals are creamy white with purple veins, and the stamens are yellow. The fruit is a siliqua (pod) 12 to long with an apical beak, containing several seeds. The species has a chromosome number of 2n = 22.

|Eruca sativa 1 IP0206101.jpg|Young plants |Rocket Salad, Arugula, Roquette, Rucola, Rugula (Eruca vesicaria subsp. sativa).jpg|Seed pods |Eruca February 2008-1.jpg|Flower

Taxonomy

Some botanists consider E. sativa a subspecies of Eruca vesicaria. However, they are different in many morphological aspects, such as sepal persistence, silique shape, and habit. Most importantly, they do not hybridise freely with each other as there is partial reproductive isolation between them. The Plants of the World Online database has accepted Eruca sativa as a distinct species.

Etymology

The species name sativa is from Latin supine satum, meaning "sown, planted", indicating that the plant is cultivated in gardens.

The English common name rocket derives from French roquette, itself a borrowing from Italian ruchetta, a diminutive of ruca, from the Latin word eruca.

"Arugula" (), the common name now widespread in the United States and Canada, entered American English from a nonstandard dialect of Italian. The standard Italian word is "rucola". The Oxford English Dictionary dates the first known appearance of "arugula" in American English to a 1960 article in The New York Times by food editor and prolific cookbook writer, Craig Claiborne.

Similarly named plants

Rocket is sometimes conflated with Diplotaxis tenuifolia, known as 'perennial wall rocket', another plant of the family Brassicaceae that is used in the same manner.

Species of Barbarea may be known as 'yellow rocket'.

Brassica oleracea may also be known by the common name 'colewort'.

Distribution and habitat

Eruca sativa is native to parts of the Mediterranean and Asia, including southern Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.

Ecology

The species typically grows on dry, disturbed ground. It is a source of food for the larvae of some moth species, including the garden carpet. Its roots are susceptible to nematode infestation.

As an invasive species, rocket is widespread and scattered, but is prolific and noxious in the Sonora desert of Arizona and California.

Cultivation

Grown as an edible and popular herb in Italy since Roman times, rocket was mentioned by various ancient Roman authors as an aphrodisiac, for example in a poem long ascribed to the first-century poet Virgil, Moretum, which contains the line: "et Venerem revocans eruca morantem" ("and the rocket, which revives drowsy Venus [sexual desire]"), and in the Ars Amatoria of Ovid. Some writers assert that for this reason, during the Middle Ages, growing rocket was forbidden in monasteries. Nonetheless, the plant was listed in a decree by Charlemagne as among the 63 pot herbs suitable for growing in gardens. Gillian Riley, author of the Oxford Companion to Italian Food, states that because of its reputation as a sexual stimulant, it was "prudently mixed with lettuce, which was the opposite" (i.e., calming or even soporific). Riley continues, "nowadays rocket is enjoyed innocently in mixed salads, to which it adds a pleasing pungency", although Norman Douglas insisted, "Salad rocket is certainly a stimulant".

The plant was traditionally collected in the wild or grown in home gardens along with herbs, such as parsley and basil. Rocket now is grown commercially in many places and is available in supermarkets and farmers markets worldwide. It now is naturalised as a wild plant away from its native range in temperate regions around the world, including northern Europe and North America. In India, the mature seeds are known as "Gargeer". This is the same name used in Arabic, جِرْجِير (ar), but used in Arab countries this name is used for the fresh leaves of the plant.

Mild frost conditions hinder the plant's growth and turn the green leaves to red. If the weather is warm plants mature to full size in 40 to 50 days.

Uses

Nutrition

Raw rocket is 92% water, 4% carbohydrates, 2.5% protein, and contains a negligible amount of fat. A 100 g reference serving provides only 105 kJ of food energy. It is a rich source (20% or more of the Daily Value, DV) of folate and vitamin K. Rocket is also a good source (10–19% of DV) of vitamin A, vitamin C, and the dietary minerals calcium, magnesium, and manganese. It also includes potassium.

Rocket is generally not allergenic.

Culinary

The leaves, flowers, young seed pods, and mature seeds are all edible.

Since Roman times in Italy, raw rocket has been added to salads. It often is added as a garnish to a pizza at the end of or just after baking. In Apulia, in southern Italy, rocket is cooked to make the pasta dish "cavatiéddi", "in which large amounts of coarsely chopped rocket are added to pasta seasoned with a homemade reduced tomato sauce and pecorino", as well as in many recipes in which it is chopped and added to sauces and cooked dishes or in a sauce (made by frying it in olive oil with garlic). It also is used as a condiment for cold meats and fish. Throughout Italy, it is used as a salad with tomatoes and with burrata, bocconcini, buffalo, or mozzarella cheese. In Rome, "rucola" is used in "straccetti", a dish of thin slices of beef with raw rocket and Parmesan cheese.

In Turkey, similarly, the plant is eaten raw as a side dish or salad with fish or is served with a sauce of extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice.

In Slovenia, rocket often is combined with boiled potatoes or used in a soup.

In West Asia, Pakistan, and northern India, Eruca seeds are pressed to make taramira oil, used in pickling and (after aging to remove acridity) as a salad or cooking oil.{{cite book | chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6jrlyOPfr24C&q=taramira+oil&pg=PA295

|Rocket Salad.jpg|Salad bowl of rocket leaves |Chorizo, roasted capsicum, tomatoes, hard boiled eggs and rocket salad.jpg|Arugula in a savoury salad

References

References

1. Blamey, M. & Grey-Wilson, C. (1989). ''Flora of Britain and Northern Europe''. {{ISBN. 0-340-40170-2.
2. "How to grow Rocket".
3. link. (2007-10-14)
4. (21 February 2011). "Wild Crop Relatives: Genomic and Breeding Resources: Oilseeds". Springer Science & Business Media.
5. Huxley, A., ed. (1992). ''New RHS Dictionary of Gardening''. Macmillan {{ISBN. 0-333-47494-5.
6. Sobrino Vesperinas, Eduardo. (November 1995). "Diferencias morfológicas e interfertilidad entre las especies arvenses ''Eruca vesicaria'' (L) Cav. y ''E. sativa'' Miller". Instituto de Estudios Altoaragoneses.
7. "''Eruca sativa'' Mill.". Kew Science.
8. ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]''
9. Claiborne, Craig. (May 24, 1960). "A Green by Any Name: Pungent Ingredient Is Cause of Confusion for City Shopper; Arugula – or Rocket – Is the Secret of Experts' Salads". [[The New York Times]].
10. Bell, Luke. (2019-03-30). "Rocket science: A review of phytochemical & health-related research in Eruca & Diplotaxis species". Food Chemistry: X.
11. "Arugula: Arugula". smartgardener.com.
12. "Eruca vesicaria (garden-rocket): Go Botany".
13. Upton, Julie, RD. "7 Foods for Better Sex". Health.com.
14. Wright, Clifford A.. (2001). "Mediterranean Vegetables". Harvard Common Press.
15. Virgil, 102 ''Moretum'': 85. Joseph J. Mooney in his 1916 English translation, [http://virgil.org/appendix/moretum.htm "The Salad"], calls it "colewort" and notes, "The Latin "moretum", which is usually translated "salad", would be better called "cheese and garlic paste", i.e., [[Pesto#History. pesto]]. See ''The Minor Poems of Vergil: Comprising the Culex, Dirae, Lydia, Moretum, Copa, Priapeia, and Catalepton'' (Birmingham: Cornish Brothers, 1916), scanned as part of [http://www.virgil.org/appendix/ ''Appendix Vergiliana: The Minor Poems of Virgil in English Translation''] on the website Virgil.org.
16. Ovid, ''The Love Poems'' (Oxford 2008) p. 119
17. [https://books.google.com/books?id=90Dk0n6OeygC&dq=%22moderatus+columella%22+&pg=PA41 Padulosi, Pignone D., Editors, ''Rocket: A Mediterranean Crop for the World'' (International Plant Genetic Resources Institute,1997), p. 41].
18. [[Helen Morgenthau Fox]], ''Gardening With Herbs for Flavor and Fragrance'' (1933, reprinted New York: Dover, 1970), p. 45. See also [https://books.google.com/books?id=j9jU1aV8xDsC&dq=capitularies+of+charlemagne+gardens&pg=PA14 Denise Le Dantec and Jean-Pierre Le Dantec, ''Reading the French Garden: Story and History'' (MIT Press, 1998), p. 14.]
19. Gillian Riley, ''The Oxford Companion to Italian Food'' (Oxford University Press, 2008), p. 446.
20. Ovid, ''The Love Poems'' (Oxford 2008) p. 232
21. USDA Plants Profile: [https://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=ERVES ''Eruca vesicaria'' subsp. ''sativa'']
22. "The Secret of the Local Red Arugula".
23. "Minnesota Spring".
24. "Eruca vesicaria (Arugula, Eruca, Garden Rocket, Gharghir, Mediterranean Salad, Rocket, Rocket Salad, Roquette, Ruchtetta, Rucola, Rucoli, Rugula, Rugulas, Salad Rocket)". North Carolinia State University.
25. NutritionData.com, [http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts-C00001-01c20mn.html Arugula, Raw]
26. Reilly, ''The Oxford Companion to Italian Food'', p. 446
27. "Beef Strips with Rocket – Straccetti con la Rucola".
28. "Oktay Usta'dan Roka Salatası Resimli Tarifi".
29. "Solata s krompirjem in rukolo".
30. "Krompirjeva juha z rukolo". zurnal24.
31. Das, Srinabas. (2004). "Evaluation of taramira oil-cake and reduction of its glucosinolate content by different treatments". Indian Journal of Animal Sciences.