From The Food Encyclopedia by Jacques Rolland and Carol Sherman
Also Italian cress, rocket, roquette, rucola. Arugula is an assertive salad green, Eruca sativa, which has a peppery taste somewhere between nasturtium and watercress, used frequently in Mediterranean dishes. The Romans utilized the leaves and seeds. Thomas Jefferson, in written instructions to his gardener at Monticello, lists it as essential for the kitchen garden. Although its leaves resemble those of the dandelion, arugula belongs to the same family as watercress, radish and mustard and can reach about 20 inches (50 cm) in height. When young, its long, tender leaves have a pleasant peppery flavor, while mature arugula has a stronger, more assertive flavor that can be bitter. It can be eaten raw or cooked, and the seeds are used to make very potent mustard in the Mediterranean and the Middle East.
