Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses

BLUE MUSTARD

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Chorispora tenella (Pallas ) DC.

PottawatomieCounty, Kansas

Annual

Height: 8-20 inches

Family: Brassicaceae - Mustard Family

Flowering Period: May, June, July

Also Called:

Purple mustard, tenella mustard, crossflower.

Stems:

Erect, much-branched, rough, sparsely to moderately covered with minute gland-tipped hairs.

Leaves:

Alternate above, nearly opposite below, simple, short-stalked, oblanceolate to lanceolate, 1.2 to 3.2 inches long; surfaces with minute gland-tipped hairs; margins wavy to coarsely-toothed.

Inflorescences:

Raceme, terminal.

Flowers:

Sepals 4, erect, 1/8 to 1/4 inch long, in two opposite pairs; petals 4, 1/4 to 1/2 inch long, diagonal to sepals, bluish-purple to pale lavender or nearly white.

Fruits:

Pod, 1.2 to 1.8 inches long, curving upward, slightly constricted at intervals, several to many seeded, minutely covered with gland-tipped hairs; beak slender; seeds rectangular, one side flat and smooth, other side rounded.

Habitat:

Waste areas, roadsides, fallow cultivated fields, disturbed sites.

Distribution:

Throughout Kansas.

Origin:

Introduced from Russia and Asia.

Forage Value:

Consumption of blue mustard can cause dairy cattle to produce off-flavor milk.

Uses:

Ground-foraging birds and small mammals eat the seeds.

Comments:

When crushed, the foliage of this weed has an unpleasant odor.