Sisymbrium altissimum

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Sisymbrium altissimum
Sisymbriumaltissimum.jpg
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Brassicales
Family: Brassicaceae
Genus: Sisymbrium
Species:
S. altissimum
Binomial name
Sisymbrium altissimum
L.

Sisymbrium altissimum is a species of Sisymbrium . The plant is native to the western part of the Mediterranean Basin and is widely naturalized throughout most of the world, including all of North America. After maturity it forms a tumbleweed. Common names of the plant include Jim Hill mustard, tall tumblemustard, [1] tall mustard, tumble mustard, [2] tumbleweed mustard, tall sisymbrium, and tall hedge mustard. [3]

Contents

Description

Tumble mustard forms an upright but delicate-looking plant, with slender, much-branched stems, growing up to 1.5 metres (5 feet) in height. Its stem leaves are divided into thin, linear lobes, while the basal leaves are broader and pinnately compound. The flowers are inconspicuous and only 6.4 millimetres (14 inch) wide. They have four usually yellow petals and four narrow, curved sepals. The seedpods are slender and long (5–10 centimetres or 2–4 in). The plant germinates in winter or early spring, with a lengthy blooming period. At maturity it dies, uproots, and tumbles in the wind, spreading its seeds. [4]

Taxonomy

The common name 'Jim Hill mustard' is after James J. Hill, a Canadian-American railroad magnate, due to a farmers' tall tale about the seeds having been spread via his railroads.[ citation needed ]

Distribution and habitat

The plant is native to the western part of the Mediterranean Basin in Europe and Northern Africa and is widely naturalized throughout most of the world, including all of North America. [3] It was probably introduced into North America as a seed contaminant of crops.[ citation needed ]

Ecology

The plant grows in soils of all textures, even sand.

Uses

The leaves are spicy enough to make wasabi but can also be mixed into salads and other dishes. [5]

Related Research Articles

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<i>Sisymbrium officinale</i> Species of flowering plant

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<i>Hemerocallis fulva</i> Species of flowering plant in the family Asphodelaceae

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<i>Lagurus ovatus</i> Species of grass

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<i>Sinapis arvensis</i> Species of flowering plant

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<i>Amaranthus graecizans</i> Species of flowering plant

Amaranthus graecizans, the Mediterranean amaranth or short-tepalled pigweed, is an annual species in the botanical family Amaranthaceae. It is native to Africa, southern Europe, East Asia to India and Central Asia. It is naturalized in North America. More general common names include tumbleweed and pigweed.

<i>Verbena bonariensis</i> Species of flowering plant

Verbena bonariensis, the purpletop vervain, clustertop vervain, Argentinian vervain, tall verbena or pretty verbena, is a member of the verbena family cultivated as a flowering annual or herbaceous perennial plant. In USA horticulture, it is also known by the ambiguous names purpletop and South American vervain. For the misapplication "Brazilian verbena" see below.

<i>Cycloloma</i> Genus of flowering plants

Cycloloma is a monotypic genus which contains the sole species Cycloloma atriplicifolium, which is known by the common names winged pigweed, tumble ringwing, plains tumbleweed, and tumble-weed. This plant is native to central North America, but it is spreading and has been occasionally reported in far-flung areas from California to Maine to the Canadian prairie. It is considered an introduced species outside of central North America. This is a bushy annual herb forming a rounded pale green clump which may exceed 0.5 m in height. It is very intricately branched, with toothed leaves occurring near the base. The spreading stems bear widely spaced flowers are small immature fruits fringed with a nearly transparent membranous wing. In autumn, the plant forms a tumbleweed. The fruit is a utricle about 2 millimeters long containing a single seed.

<i>Diplotaxis muralis</i> Species of plant

Diplotaxis muralis, the annual wall-rocket, is a species of flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae. This plant is native to Europe, Asia, and Africa, but it is found throughout the temperate world, where it has naturalized. This is an erect mustard-like plant rarely reaching half a meter in height. It has lobed leaves and its stems are topped with dense inflorescences of yellow, or occasionally light purple, flowers with small oval petals and large anthers. The fruit is a podlike silique two to four centimeters long.

<i>Galium parisiense</i> Species of flowering plant

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<i>Sisymbrium loeselii</i> Species of flowering plant

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<i>Sonchus tenerrimus</i> Species of flowering plant in the daisy family Asteraceae

Sonchus tenerrimus is a species of flowering plant in the aster family known by the common name slender sowthistle. It is native to the Mediterranean region of southern Europe, northern Africa, and the Middle East. It has been found as well in several other locations around the world, historically in association with ship ballast in coastal regions. It has become naturalized in a few places, such as California in the United States and Baja California in Mexico.

<i>Schoenocrambe linifolia</i> Flowering plant species

Schoenocrambe linifolia is a species of flowering plant in the mustard family known by the common names flaxleaf plainsmustard, skeleton mustard, and Salmon River plains-mustard. It is native to western North America, where it can be found from British Columbia east of the Cascade Range to Saskatchewan in Canada and south to Arizona and New Mexico in the United States. An "extremely common" plant, it is most abundant in the Columbia, Great, and Colorado Basins.

<i>Tulipa sylvestris</i> Species of flowering plant

Tulipa sylvestris, the wild tulip or woodland tulip, is a Eurasian and North African species of wild tulip, a plant in the lily family. Its native range extends from Portugal and Morocco to western China, covering most of the Mediterranean and Black Sea Basins, and Central Asia. The species is also cultivated as an ornamental and naturalized in central and northern Europe as well as a few scattered locations in North America. It was first recorded as being naturalised in Britain in the late 17th century.

References

  1. USDA, NRCS (n.d.). "Sisymbrium altissimum". The PLANTS Database (plants.usda.gov). Greensboro, North Carolina: National Plant Data Team. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
  2. Johnson, Eileen, ed. (1987). Lubbock Lake : late quaternary studies on the southern high plains. College Station: Texas A&M University Press. p. 29. ISBN   0-89096-321-5.
  3. 1 2 Royer, France; Richard Dickinson (1999). Weeds of the Northern U.S. and Canada: A Guide for Identification. The University of Alberta Press. p. 470. ISBN   978-1-55105-221-2.
  4. Laird R. Blackwell (2002). Wildflowers of the Eastern Sierra and adjoining Mojave Desert and Great Basin. Lone Pine Publishing. ISBN   978-1-55105-281-6.
  5. Nyerges, Christopher (2017). Foraging Washington: Finding, Identifying, and Preparing Edible Wild Foods. Guilford, CT: Falcon Guides. ISBN   978-1-4930-2534-3. OCLC   965922681.