Hirschfeldia incana

Mediterranean hoary mustard

Family: Brassicaceae · Type: perennial · Not Native

Conservation status: Cal-IPC Yes

Mediterranean hoary mustard is a naturalized perennial herb found in coastal and interior regions of California, including the North Coast, Klamath Ranges, Central California Valley, and southern California desert mountains, in disturbed areas at elevations below 2,000 meters. Flowering from April to October, this plant produces bright yellow flowers with obovate petals on much-elongated inflorescences. Growing with robust stems 40 to 150 centimeters tall covered in reflexed hairs, it develops pinnately lobed leaves that range from 5 to 25 centimeters long with multiple lateral leaf lobes. Its leaves vary from basal rosettes to cauline leaves, which are dentate or pinnately lobed and can be either petioled or sessile. The fruit develops as a slender, erect silique 7 to 15 millimeters long, typically containing 10 to 22 small ovoid seeds in a single row.

Habitat: Disturbed areas

Bloom period: Apr-Oct

Elevation: < 2000 m

Bioregions: NCo, KR, NCoRI, CaR, SNF, GV, CW, SCo, PR, DMoj

California counties: Kern, Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Amador, Ventura, Butte, Lake, Orange, Placer, Riverside, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Santa Clara, Monterey, Colusa, Fresno, Merced, Inyo, San Francisco, Alameda, San Benito, Santa Barbara, Plumas, Napa, San Mateo, Mendocino, Sonoma, Yuba, Tuolumne, Mariposa, Nevada, Tulare, Contra Costa, El Dorado, Marin, Sacramento, Solano, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Sutter, Santa Cruz, Yolo, Siskiyou, Tehama, Glenn, Humboldt, Calaveras

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