Wild Radish: Friend or Foe?

One of the wild radish flowers closeup

Clearing weeds along the path on the lower hill I stumbled on a wild radish (Raphanus raphanistrum) in full bloom.

This particular plant is probably three feet tall and six feet wide and is covered in purple flowers the bees and butterflies really enjoy. Like garden radishes, all parts of this plant are spicy and edible. But, unlike the garden varieties, the root is long and thin rather than bulky and compact, so it’s nothing you want to put on a veggie platter.

Domestic versus Wild Radish Flowers

Most domestic radishes flower white or yellow

Wild radish flowers are more colorful than their domestic cousins

Wild rashes are considered “invasive” here in Southern California (they’re native to the Mediterranean region), and you see them in late winter and early spring in disturbed soil along embankments and slopes where not much else will grow.

Here at the Acre, I usually find them in nooks and crannies crowding out another, far more invasive and fire prone species, black mustard. While I pull mustard wherever I find it, I let the radishes finish flowering before getting rid of them.

I don’t let wild radishes go to seed in place though. First, because they’re super prolific and will take over if you let them. Second, because like all members of the brassica family, they’re alleopathic, meaning they release chemicals into the soil that prevent other seeds from germinating. While one or two plants are no big deal, if you let them run wild, almost nothing else will grow from seed in that area for a couple of seasons.

Wild Radish Photo Gallery