The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

common mustard, field mustard, wild turnip

black mustard

Habit Annual or biennial herb, glabrous or sparsely hairy with fleshy or slender roots.
Flowers

Flowers in small racemes terminally from leaf axils, with fruiting pedicels ascending to spreading, 10-25 mm. Sepals 4, green to yellow;

petals 4, pale to deep yellow, 1 cm long; 6 stamens, 2 shorter than the others; superior ovary with one 2-carpellate pistil.

Fruits

Siliques up to 7cm long with s slender beaked tip.

Seeds

Black, brown or reddish in color, 1-2 mm in diameter. Seed coat is very finely reticulate to lightly alveolate.

Brassica rapa

Brassica nigra

Flowering time April-Septemeber April-June
Habitat Roadsides, fields, ditches, wastelots and other disturbed open areas. Fields, roadsides, wastelots, and other disturbed areas at low elevations.
Distribution
Occurring chiefly west of the Cascades crest in Washington; Alaska to California, east to the Atlantic Coast.
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Occurring on both sides of the Cascades crest in Washington; Alaska to California, east across North America to the Atlantic Coast.
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Origin Introduced from Europe Introduced from Europe
Conservation status Not of concern Not of concern
Sibling taxa
B. juncea, B. napus, B. nigra, B. oleracea
B. juncea, B. napus, B. oleracea, B. rapa
Web links