AMERICAN MEDICINAL FLOWERS, FRUITS, AND SEEDS. 



WHITE MUSTARD. 



Sinapis alba L. 



Pharmacopaeial name. — Sinapis alba. 



Other common names. — Yellow mustard, charlock, kedlock, senvre. 



Habitat and range. — White mustard is a weed, naturalized from Europe and 

 found in cultivated fields and waste places, but not so abundant nor so widely 

 distributed as the black mustard. It is cultivated on a commercial scale in 

 California. 



Description. — This annual plant, while much resembling the black mustard, 

 is smaller, reaching only about 1 to 2 feet in height, and is also of a brighter 

 green color. It is more or less hairy, with- stiff, spreading hairs. The lower 

 leaves are 6 to 8 inches in length, with toothed margins, deeply lobed, the divi- 

 sions reaching to the midrib, the terminal lobe large, and those at the sides 

 smaller. The upper leaves are lance shaped and somewhat toothed. The 

 surface of the leaves is 

 rough hairy. The flowers 

 are considerably larger 

 than those of black mus- 

 tard and of a lighter yel- 

 low color. The pods are 

 rough hairy, contracted 

 between seeds, and have 

 a long beak. In the white 

 mustard these pods are 

 spreading, instead of being 

 pressed against the stem 

 as is the case in black 

 mustard, and the seed, 

 which is roundish, pale 

 yellowish, and very mi- 

 nutely pitted, is also 

 larger. (Fig. 5.) 



Collection, uses, and 

 prices. — The seeds, which 

 are official in the United 

 States Pharmacopoeia, are 

 collected in the same man- 

 ner as those of black mus- 

 tard ; that is, the fruiting 

 tops should be gathered 



Fig. 5. — White 



mustard 

 flowers 



(Sinapis alba) 

 and seed pods. 



plant, showing 



before they are fully ripe and placed in a clean place to mature and dry, after 

 which the seeds can be easily shaken out. 



W T hite-mustard seed is likewise used in the preparation of plasters and poul- 

 tices, and internally for its laxative and emetic properties. 



Like black mustard, these seeds do not develop the mustard odor until water 

 is added when they are ground, but it is not as pronounced in these, neither 

 is the taste as pungent. 



The price is about the same as for black mustard, ranging from 2 to 4 cents 

 a pound. 



