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Species
Brassica tournefortii var. sisymbrioides (Fisch.) Grossh.
IUCN
NCBI
EOL Text
United States
Origin: Exotic
Regularity: Regularly occurring
Currently: Unknown/Undetermined
Confidence: Confident
Nile region, oases, Mediterranean region, Egyptian desert and Sinai.
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | Bibliotheca Alexandrina, BA Cultnat, Bibliotheca Alexandrina - EOL Ar |
Source | http://lifedesk.bibalex.org/ba/pages/2178 |
North Africa, south and west Europe, southwest Asia.
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | Bibliotheca Alexandrina, BA Cultnat, Bibliotheca Alexandrina - EOL Ar |
Source | http://lifedesk.bibalex.org/ba/pages/2178 |
Annual, (10-) 20-70 cm tall, erect, mostly branched above, hairy below with long ciliate white hairs; branches almost aphyllous. Basal leaves rosulate, runcinate-pinnatifid, 4-12-jugate, shortly petioled, hispid; terminal lobe often small, obliquely cordate, ± trilobate, sinuate-dentate; lateral lobes narrow, ± oblong, often sub-recurved; upper leaves much smaller, few, oblong or linear, 10-30 mm long, 4-8 mm broad, dentate or entire, acute, ± hairy. Racemes 10-20-flowered, lax, increasing up to 30 cm in fruit. Flowers 4-7 mm across, pale yellow; pedicel 2-6 (-9) mm long, increasing up to 20 mm (rarely more) and slightly thickened in fruit, spreading. Sepals c. 3 mm long, 1.5 mm broad, oblong, obtuse. Petals 4.5-6.5 mm long, 1.5 mm broad, oblong-obovate, apex rounded, pale yellowish, often with dark veins. Stamens c. 3:4 mm long; anthers c. 1 mm long. Siliquae 35-65 mm long, 2-3 mm broad, linear-oblong, including 10-20 mm long, smooth, usually 1-seeded, slightly tapering beak, often slightly curved at the apex, ± glabrous, subtorulose; valve with a prominent mid-vein; stigma sessile, depressed-capitate, subemarginate; seeds uniseriate, many, c. 1 mm in diam., globose, dark brown, finely tuberculated, mucilaginous when wet.
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | eFloras.org Copyright © Missouri Botanical Garden |
Source | http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=5&taxon_id=250063507 |
Desert plains, sandy and stony wadis, edges of cultivation.
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | Bibliotheca Alexandrina, BA Cultnat, Bibliotheca Alexandrina - EOL Ar |
Source | http://lifedesk.bibalex.org/ba/pages/2178 |
Annual.
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | Bibliotheca Alexandrina, BA Cultnat, Bibliotheca Alexandrina - EOL Ar |
Source | http://lifedesk.bibalex.org/ba/pages/2178 |
United States
Rounded National Status Rank: NNA - Not Applicable
Rounded Global Status Rank: GNR - Not Yet Ranked
The mustard species Brassica tournefortii is known by the common names Asian mustard, African mustard, and Sahara mustard, and is well known as an invasive species, especially in California.
The plant is generally similar to other mustards, but the yellow flowers are not as bright and flashy as closely related species. It is a spreading annual herb with long stems up to 40 inches in length.
Description[edit]
This mustard is native to the deserts of North Africa and the Middle East. It became notorious during the twentieth century after it invaded the deserts of the United States and Mexico. Recently it has become an abundant weed of low deserts including the Sonoran and Mojave Deserts, plus the desert valleys such as the Coachella and Imperial Valleys of southern California. [1] The plant disperses easily at the first hint of rain. When the seed coats are moistened they form a gel and become very sticky and readily adhere to people, animals, and objects. Seeds easily take hold along roadsides and arid desert lands, especially in disturbed habitats.
Thick stands of the plant can crowd out native flora. Well-adapted to desert life, it monopolizes any moisture in the soil before other plants can get it and forms seeds before other species do. It produces seed as early in the year as January, especially if the region undergoes a warm spell, which is a common occurrence during southern California winters. It self-fertilizes and drops seeds into the soil, where they persist and survive fires and long periods without rain. The fact that it propagates by leaving large numbers of viable seeds in the soil prevents eradication measures such as pulling, mowing, grazing, and burning. Individual plants have the capacity to separate from the ground and become like tumbleweeds, dropping seeds as they are carried across the desert floor in the breeze.
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | Wikipedia |
Source | http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Brassica_tournefortii&oldid=647208312 |