Hirschfeldia incana (L.) Lagr.-Fossa =Brassica geniculata =B. incana Brassicaceae (Mustard Family) Europe Short-Podded Mustard Field Mustard

                                          July Photo     

Plant Characteristics:  Biennial or perennial, 4-8 dm. tall, branches from a rosette of basal leaves, lyrate-pinnatifid, 4-10 cm. long with large terminal lobe; stem is retrorsely  hairy on both sides, leaves often with only shallow lobes or a wavy margin. Flowering branches elongate in fruit, flowers small, petals 5-6 mm. long; pods 8-12 mm. long, closely appressed; the beak is 1/2 the length of the pod or less.  Seeds, 1 row per chamber, spheric, reddish brown.  

Habitat:  Roadsides, creek bottoms, disturbed areas; north coast, Sierra Nevada foothills, great Central Valley, central west California, south coast; below 1600 m. May-Oct.

Name:  Brassica, the Latin name for cabbage.  Geniculata, bent like a knee. (Jaeger 109).  The pods are bent on stems to lie appressed to the peduncle.  Named for C. Hirschfeldt, horticulturist, 1742-1792.  (Hickman, Ed. 425).  Latin, incanus, hoary. (Jaeger 126).   Refers to the dense hair on the stems and leaves. (my comment)

General:  Common in the study area.  Plants often grow alone, rather than in the dense colonies that seem to be the rule for the other mustards.  Blooms the latest of all of the local mustards.  Photographed at 23rd Street and near the top of the bank at the intersection of Back Bay Dr. and Eastbluff Dr.  Also on the North Star Flats.  (my comments).     This European weed, established first in coastal southern California, has now become common inland and northward through the Sacramento Valley.  It is a frequent weed along the edges of highways and thrives on hard, dry waste areas.  (Robbins et al. 211).       The Cahuilla Indians of the Colorado Desert the San Jacinto and San Bernardino Mountains, used B. geniculata leaves either fresh or boiled.  The plants grow all winter where there is sufficient moisture and must be eaten in fresh condition.  Mrs. Alice Lopez , a Cahuilla Indian, recalled that mustard was an important winter food plant.  The seeds were also collected and ground into mush.  (Bean and Saubel 47).

Text Ref:  Hickman, Ed. 425, 1332; Munz, Calif. Flora 236; Munz, Flora So. Calif. 276; Roberts 15.

Photo Ref:  July 3 83 # 2; May 2 88 # 22.

Identity: by R. De Ruff, confirmed by F. Roberts.  

First Found:  July 1983.

Computer Ref:  Plant Data 3.

Have plant specimen.

Last edit 6/7/05.  

                               October Photo                                                                                March Photo