Athysanus unilateralis

Ladiestongue mustard

Family: Brassicaceae · Type: annual · Native

Ladiestongue mustard is a California native annual found in the southern Sierra Nevada foothills, Tehachapi, Great Valley, and South Coast Ranges in grassy, open slopes and clay soils at elevations of 100 to 900 meters. Flowering from February to May, this plant produces small white flowers approximately 1.3 to 1.7 millimeters long. Growing with prostrate to ascending stems 7 to 25 centimeters tall, branched near the base and covered with 3 to 4-rayed hairs. Its basal leaves are oblanceolate to obovate, nearly sessile and 0.5 to 2.2 centimeters long, with occasional single teeth along the edges. The fruit is 3 to 5 millimeters long, obovate to elliptic in shape, with a tiny style measuring 0.1 to 0.2 millimeters.

Habitat: Uncommon. Grassy, open slopes, flats, clay soils, floodplains, gypsum-clay slopes

Bloom period: Feb-May

Elevation: 100-900 m

Bioregions: CaRF, s SNF, Teh, GV, SCoR

California counties: Kern, San Benito, San Joaquin, Los Angeles, San Luis Obispo, Contra Costa, Alameda, Fresno, Stanislaus, Ventura, Colusa

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.