Wild Radish

This is one that I hadn’t seen before and getting the ID confirmed was harder than I expected, it is a very distinctive flower. I found it easily enough by Googling for “veined yellow flower” and just browsing images. The problem came when I needed the experts to confirm my ID. Apparently there are a few other things that look similar. It has been confirmed now by the best, this is 100% Raphanus raphanistrum a Wild Radish.

Wikiwotsit and a few other web sites that probably copy WW say that it is easily confused with Searocket but I can’t see that. Searocket is  a succulent with thick fleshy leaves and doesn’t look anything like this.

Now I am going to have a little rant.

The internet is full of bad information and it gets copied. Bad information becomes fact and it all gets really confusing. I will give you an obvious example….

“Obdurate petals” I came across that one years ago and I have just googled it again and the top three answers are still about the Soft Geranium,  Geranium molle, Why would a soft geranium have stubborn petals? You would expect it to be a push over, being soft and all.

It doesn’t. In botany the word “Obcordate” means heart shaped. The Geranium molle has heart shaped petals. It is an easy mistake to make, just a typo really or an automatic spell checker but that example just shows how a little bit of bad information goes a long way, it gets copied. My apologies to the web sites that haven’t got round to correcting that one yet. ( 🙂 )

That was an easy one to spot. Some of the wrong info is not so easy to sort out and it just gets spread around.

That is the end of my rant.

Can you eat it? Yes you can. It is a member of the Mustard family and the whole plant is edible. The greens are supposed to be nice but I probably won’t bother, it looks a bit stringy.

On second thoughts I shall have a taste of it next time I am up there. I have read that it tastes like radish and I do like them. I would hate to miss out on something nice.

The root is also edible but best taken young and don’t expect a radish. I have just been out to photograph the root but I had to turn back before I got there because I was being followed by a pesky dog called Buddy and had to return him home.

(Pesky Dog)

So this is Wild Radish also known as Jointed Charlock.