Sisymbrium officinale (L.) Scop.

Common Hedge Mustard

Herb

Annual

Vascular

Common Hedge Mustard is an introduced herbaceous annual in the Mustard family (Brassicaceae). It is native to Europe, North Africa, and Asia. In Alabama in can be found statewide. Common Hedge Mustard grows in fallow fields, in pastures, on roadsides, in alluvial woods, and along railroad tracks. It is an annual with a large tap root. Seed sprout in the winter and form a basal rosette of leaves. The basal leaves are petiolate, oblanceolate to oblong in outline, pubescent or glabrous, and lyrate pinnatifid with toothed margins. The terminal lobe of the leaf is larger than the lateral lobes. Stems are 1-4 feet in height. The stems are unbranched or branched above the middle. The stems are green or purple in color, glabrate or retrorsly pubescent. Stem leaves are alternate, petiolate, pinnatifid or pinnatisect, pubescent or glabrous, with toothed margins. Flowers are produced in elongate racemes. Flowers have 4 small spatulate petals. The fruit is a silique. The fruit are sessile or with short pedicels and appressed to the rachis. Common Hedge Mustard is widely cultivated in Europe where the leaves are eaten in salads or cooked like cabbage. The seed are used to make a mustard paste. The Greeks believed that Common Hedge Mustard was an antidote for all poisons. It is known by the name of “Singer’s Plant” in traditional medicine where it is considered a remedy for loss of voice.--A. Diamond

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Not Native

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