Wild Radish is a weedy, flowering, annual plant in the mustard family. It is found in disturbed sides, roadsides and floodplains. It has an erect to sending habit forming a rossette of deeply lobed basal leaves and as the stems elongate they are covered in alternately arranged narrower leaves. Flowers are white to yellow pale lilace or pink with four petals and form elongated clusters at the stem tips. The flower petals have conspicuous greenish or purplish veins, and its seedpods are divided into conspicuous segments. Wild Radish does best in sandy, loamy, and clay soils, evenly moist, in full sun or partial shade. It is not frost tender. Wild Radish can spread rapidly and is considered invasive in Alaska and Australia. It is often found growing on roadsides or other disturbed ground. Diseases, Insect Pests, and Other Plant Problems: No known diseases or insect pests. Host of an eelworm that attacks cultivated crops.
Curated pairwise relationships between this plant and others in the library — who feeds
whom, who competes, who confuses the pests. Green reads as a good pairing, red as one to avoid.
No curated interactions recorded for this species yet.
Also noted by NC State
Related species the NC State Plant Toolbox flags for this plant — look-alikes to tell
apart, and plants that play a similar role in a planting. Ones we carry in the library are linked.
Full sun (6 or more hours of direct sunlight a day) | Partial Shade (Direct sunlight only part of the day, 2-6 hours)
Soil texture
Clay; High Organic Matter; Sand
Soil pH
Acid (<6.0); Alkaline (>8.0); Neutral (6.0-8.0)
Soil drainage
Good Drainage | Moist
NC region
Coastal; Mountains; Piedmont
Growth rate
Rapid
Maintenance
High
Form & Appearance
Habit / form
Multi-stemmed
Texture
Coarse
Leaf color
Blue; Green
Leaf type
Compound (Pinnately , Bipinnately, Palmately)
Leaf arrangement
Alternate; Rosulate
Leaf shape
Pinnatisect
Leaf margin
Crenate; Serrate
Leaf feel
Rough
Leaf size
> 6 inches long
Hairs present
Yes
Leaf detail
Green to blue-green, 14 inch leaves with some hairs that make it feel rough to the touch.
Flower color
Gold/Yellow; Pink; Purple/Lavender; White
Flower form
Raceme
Flower detail
Raceme rises from leaf axil more that 10 inches long with up to 42 flowers. The flowers have four white (sometimes yellow or purple) petals with dark veins.
Bloom time
Spring; Summer
Fruit color
Green; Purple/Lavender
Fruit type
Siliqua
Fruit detail
Pods that are green purple when immature yellow-brown to grey with age. Erect pods are on stalks, and contain red-brown egg-shaped seeds.
Stem color
Blue; Green
Stem detail
Blue-green angular, branched or with a few branches at the base of the plant. Slightly ridged, and bristly-hairy all over.
Wildlife & Ecology
Native status
Non-native
Origin
Europe, Mediterranean, North Africa
Distribution
Worldwide from Greenland, North America, South America, to Asia and Africa.
Wildlife value
Attracts bees.
Attracts
Bees; Pollinators
Food & Medicine
Edible parts
Leaves; Seeds
Fruit type
Siliqua
Edibility
Young leaves and seeds can be used in salads.
Landscape Use
Garden tags
#self-seeding #problem for horses #weedy #annual #spreading #edible leaves #aggressive