Sisymbrium officinale

Hedge mustard

Family: Brassicaceae · Type: perennial · Not Native

Hedge mustard is a naturalized perennial found in California's Foothill Provinces in disturbed areas, fields, and pastures at elevations below 2,200 meters. Flowering from April to September, this plant produces small yellow-white flowers about 2.5 to 4 millimeters long. Growing with branched stems 25 to 75 centimeters tall and covered in reflexed hairs, it has a distinctive growth pattern spreading outward. Its basal and lower stem leaves are pinnately lobed with 3 to 4 pairs of lateral lobes, ranging from entire to slightly dentate. The narrow awl-shaped seed pods grow ascending to erect, typically 1 to 1.4 centimeters long.

Habitat: Disturbed areas, fields, pastures

Bloom period: Apr-Sep

Elevation: < 2200 m

Bioregions: CA-FP

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

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