Sisymbrium altissimum

Tumble mustard

Family: Brassicaceae · Type: perennial · Not Native

Tumble mustard is a naturalized annual herb found in disturbed areas, fields, and pastures throughout California at elevations below 2,700 meters. Flowering from May to July, this plant produces pale yellow to white flowers about 6 to 8 millimeters long with distinctive horned sepals. Growing with extensively branched stems reaching 40 to 120 centimeters tall, it develops a complex, widely spreading growth habit. Its basal and lower stem leaves are pinnately lobed with 4 to 6 pairs of oblong to lanceolate lateral lobes, while upper leaves become finely dissected into thin, thread-like segments. The plant produces long linear fruits 6 to 9 centimeters in length, which contribute to its characteristic tumbling dispersal mechanism.

Habitat: Disturbed areas, fields, pastures

Bloom period: May-Jul

Elevation: < 2700 m

Bioregions: CA

California counties: San Diego, San Bernardino, Los Angeles, Fresno, Inyo, Kern, Lake, Lassen, Merced, Modoc, Mono, Orange, Riverside, San Luis Obispo, Siskiyou, Tulare, San Benito, El Dorado, Monterey, Nevada, Plumas, Tuolumne, Ventura, Humboldt, Marin, Alpine, Sierra, Santa Barbara, San Francisco, Madera, Santa Cruz, Butte, Santa Clara, Del Norte, Yolo, Yuba, Placer, Shasta, Contra Costa, Imperial, Trinity, Kings, Sonoma, Mariposa, Colusa, Sacramento, Solano, Stanislaus

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