22-3-2021 EL VERGER, VALENCIA - WHITE MUSTARD (Sinapis alba)

White mustard (Sinapis alba), alternatively known as yellow mustard, is a fast-growing annual herbaceous plant belonging to the cabbage and mustard family, Brassicaceae. Though indigenous to the Mediterranean region and Southern Europe, it has widely naturalized across the globe. The plant is highly valued for its agricultural utility, culinary seeds, and soil-healing properties.

Botanical Profile

• Appearance: A medium-to-tall bristly annual herb reaching heights between 70 cm and 1.5 meters. Stems are green and covered in short, stiff hairs.

• Leaves: Alternate, stalked, and deeply lobed (pinnatifid) with rough, hairy surfaces.

• Flowers: Bright yellow clusters featuring four petals in a distinct cruciform pattern. Flowering typically spans from June to August.

• Fruit & Seeds: Diagnostic lumpy, bristly seed pods (siliques) that end in a flat, beak-like point. Each pod holds roughly half a dozen spherical, beige-to-light-yellow seeds measuring 1–1.5 mm in diameter.

 

27-3-2019 BENIARBEIG, ALICANTE - WHITE MUSTARD (Sinapis alba)

White mustard (Sinapis alba), also called yellow mustard, is an annual plant of the cabbage family. It is sometimes also referred to as Brassica alba or B. hirta. It is native to the Mediterranean region, Europe and Asia Tropical, but is now widespread worldwide. Grown for its seeds, it is used to make the condiment mustard, as a fodder crop, or as a green manure.

White mustard is an annual, growing to 70 centimetres (28 in) high with stalkless pinnate leaves, similar to Sinapis arvensis. The yellow flowers of S. alba contain 4 petals per flower and 4 alternating sepals. In addition, their pods are approximately 2.0–4.2 cm long.

Sinapis alba is a long day plant, which means they flower when the amount of light received exceeds their critical photoperiod. Pollen from S. alba is able to be dispersed through wind and insect pollinators, such as wild bees, bumblebees, and flower flies. Additionally, white mustard is an obligate outcrossing species, that is, white mustard is self-incompatible and cannot self-fertilize.

20-3-2019 ALBUFERA, VALENCIA - WHITE MUSTARD (Sinapis alba)

White mustard (Sinapis alba), also called yellow mustard, is an annual plant of the cabbage family. It is sometimes also referred to as Brassica alba or B. hirta. It is native to the Mediterranean region, Europe and Asia Tropical, but is now widespread worldwide. Grown for its seeds, it is used to make the condiment mustard, as a fodder crop, or as a green manure.

White mustard is an annual, growing to 70 centimetres (28 in) high with stalkless pinnate leaves, similar to Sinapis arvensis. The yellow flowers of S. alba contain 4 petals per flower and 4 alternating sepals. In addition, their pods are approximately 2.0–4.2 cm long.

Sinapis alba is a long day plant, which means they flower when the amount of light received exceeds their critical photoperiod. Pollen from S. alba is able to be dispersed through wind and insect pollinators, such as wild bees, bumblebees, and flower flies. Additionally, white mustard is an obligate outcrossing species, that is, white mustard is self-incompatible and cannot self-fertilize. White mustard is one of the species originally described and named by Carl Linnaeus in his 1753 book Species Plantarum using the name Sinapis alba. This name continues to be accepted placing it in genus Sinapis in the family Brassicaceae.

In English Sinapis alba is known by the common name white mustard, but is also called yellow mustard.

Most common in Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia, it can be found worldwide. It has been found as far north as Greenland, and naturalized throughout the British Isles.

The yellow flowers of the plant produce glabrous or sparsely bristled seed pods. Each fruit (silique) contains roughly a half dozen seeds. The plants are harvested for their seeds just prior to the seed pods becoming ripe and bursting open (dehiscing).

White mustard seeds are hard spheroid seeds, usually around 1.0 to 1.5 mm (0.039 to 0.059 in) in diameter, with a color ranging from beige or yellow to light brown. They can be used whole for pickling or toasted for use in dishes. When ground and mixed with other ingredients, a paste or more standard condiment can be produced. Sinapis alba is used to make the commonplace yellow table mustard, with additional yellow coloring provided by turmeric in some formulations.