49 
to ripen and dry out, when they will burst open and the seeds can be 
readily shaken out. 
Mustard seed has no odor whatever when collected, not even when 
it is powdered in its dry state, but as soon as water is added in grinding 
it, the powerful, penetrating mustard odor is developed. The taste is 
sharp and pungent. 
WHITE MUSTARD. 
Sinapis alba L. 
Another common name.—Yellow mustard. (Fig. 31.) 
Range and habitat.— White mustard is a weed found in cultivated 
Fic. 31.—White mustard (Sinapis alba L.). 
land along waysides and fence rows, but is not so abundant nor so 
widely distributed as the black mustard. It is naturalized in this 
country from Europe. 
Deseription.—This plant is very similar to black mustard, but is 
smaller (growing only about 1 to 2 feet tall), bright green, but the 
flowers and seeds are much larger, and the rough-hairy pods with their 
long, sickle-shaped beaks are spreading instead of being pressed 
against the stem. The flowers are paler yellow than those of the fore- 
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