WILD FLOWERS YELLOW AND ORANGE 
relief of every pain is only too well known in every 
family. The oil of Mustard, made from the seeds, 
is intensely pungent, and is used for making liniments 
and soap. When used as fodder, the plant is harvested 
before the seeds mature. The Black Mustard is com- 
mon -throughout our country from June to November, 
in fields, roadsides, and. waste places: Its presence 
is a familiar one about abandoned farm buildings 
and weed-grown foundations, marking the ravages 
and desolation caused’ by fire and decay. It is con- 
spicuously at home in the vicinity of public ash dumps 
and in neglected gardens. While it is extensively 
cultivated in Europe, it is looked upon by farmers in 
this country as a most prolific and’ troublesome pest. 
It grows erect from two to seven feet high, and branches 
widely. The lower leaves are slender-stemmed and 
deeply cut into two or three pairs of irregular parts, 
and balanced on the end with a single large lobe. 
The edges are variously toothed. The shorter-stemmed , 
upper leaves are lance-shaped, and often smooth- 
edged. . The leaves are loose-textured, and on the 
underside they are hairy. They are set on the stalk 
at the base of the branches. The flower has four 
bright yellow petals, arranged like an oblong cross — 
the cross sign “X” of multiplication, which is one of 
the chief characteristics of all of the flowers of the 
Mustard family, and which the Latin name, Cruci- 
ferae, signifies. The flowers are less than half an inch 
broad. : The delicate, rounded petals are narrowed at 
the base, and are spread toward the apex. The greenish 
131 
