White mustard

White mustard (Sinapis alba) is an annual plant of the family Brassicaceae. It is sometimes also referred to as Brassica alba or B. hirta. Grown for its seeds, used to make the condiment mustard, as fodder crop, or as a green manure, it is now widespread worldwide, although it probably originated in the Mediterranean region.

White mustard is an annual, growing to 70 cm high with stalkless pinnate leaves, similar to Sinapis arvensis.[1]

Most common in Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia, it can be found worldwide. It has been found as far north as Greenland,[2] and naturalized throughout Great Britain and Ireland.[3]

The yellow flowers of the plant produce glabrous or sparsely bristled siliquae. Each fruit (silique) contains roughly a half dozen seeds. The plants are harvested for their seeds just prior to the siliquae becoming ripe and dehiscing.