Sisymbrium orientale

Indian hedge mustard

Family: Brassicaceae · Type: perennial · Not Native

Indian hedge mustard is a naturalized perennial found in the Central Valley, Central Western, Southwestern, and Mojave Desert regions in disturbed areas, fields, and roadsides at elevations below 1,300 meters. Flowering from May to June, this plant produces small pale yellow to white flowers about 7 to 9 millimeters wide. Growing with soft-hairy stems 20 to 70 centimeters tall that become smoother towards the top, it develops an upright, branching habit. Its leaves are broadly oblanceolate with 2 to 5 pairs of lateral lobes, featuring a larger terminal lobe and upper leaves that are narrow and lance-shaped. The slender fruits are linear, measuring 6 to 10 centimeters long and just 1 to 1.5 millimeters wide.

Habitat: Disturbed areas, fields, roadsides

Bloom period: May-Jun

Elevation: < 1300 m

Bioregions: GV, CW, SW, DMoj

California counties: Kern, San Diego, San Bernardino, Los Angeles, Monterey, Riverside, San Francisco, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Tulare, Imperial, Santa Clara, Fresno, Ventura, Inyo, Mono, Orange, Lassen, San Mateo, Merced, San Benito, Solano, Stanislaus, Contra Costa, Marin, Sacramento, Butte, Tehama, Glenn, Modoc, Colusa, Alameda, Yolo, Napa, Santa Cruz

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