Eruca

Eruca is a genus of flowering plants in the family Brassicaceae, native to the Mediterranean region, which includes the leaf vegetable known as arugula or rocket.

Eruca
Eruca vesicaria
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Rosids
Order:	Brassicales
Family:	Brassicaceae
Genus:	Eruca Mill.
Species
See text

The number of species is disputed, with some authorities only accepting a single species, while others accept up to five species. The following species are accepted by the Med-Checklist:^[1][2]

• Eruca loncholoma (Pomel) O.E.Schulz
• Eruca pinnatifida (Desf.) Pomel (syn. E. sativa subsp. pinnatifida (Desf.) Batt.; E. vesicaria subsp. pinnatifida (Desf.) Emberger & Maire)
• Eruca sativa Mill. (syn. E. vesicaria subsp. sativa (Mill.) Thell.)
• Eruca setulosa Boiss. & Reuter
• Eruca vesicaria (L.) Cav.

When treated as a monospecific genus, all are included within E. vesicaria.^[3][4]

Varieties can be either annual or biennial, growing to 20–100 cm tall. The leaves are deeply pinnately lobed with four to ten small lateral lobes and a large terminal lobe. The flowers are 2–4 cm diameter, arranged in a corymb, with the typical 4-petal, 4-sepal Brassicaceae flower structure; the petals are creamy white with purple veins, and the stamens yellow. The fruit is a siliqua (pod) 12–25 mm long with an apical beak, and containing several seeds.^[5][6][7]