MUSTARD FAMILY 



(Cruciferae) 



One of the easiest jof all plant families to recognize, because 

 of the four distinct petals, generally clawed and forming 

 a cross, their six stamens of which two are shorter than the 

 others, and their usually peppery juice. The mature seed 

 pods are often needed for determination of these plants. 



WILD MUSTARD (Brassica nigra, Koch). Flowers yellow, 

 i to ^ inch broad, in long, terminal racemes on stems 3 to 10 

 or 12 feet high; leaves dark green, the lower with one large 

 terminal lobe and two to four smaller lateral lobes, the upper 

 nearly or quite sessile, not so deeply lobed or even entire. 

 Common everywhere below t\vo thousand feet altitude; often 

 making dense thickets, blooming February to May. 



No plant makes more of an impress on the California land- 

 scape in the spring than this Wild Mustard, when acres upon 

 acres of it in bloom blanket the valleys and mesas of the state. 

 It is a naturalized immigrant, its presence on the Pacific Coast 

 perhaps being due to the Franciscan Missionaries who were 

 indefatigable introducers of European plants. It is one of the 

 species from which the mustard of commerce is produced. 

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