Field Mustard

Common Name

Field Mustard

Scientific Name

Brassica rapa

Clues to ID

This species includes varieties called bok choy, napa cabbage, turnip, rapini, and totsoi

This plant has been used by humans for so long that its origins are unknown. Today it is found in most parts of the globe and is used in all its varieties, mostly as vegetables. The seeds are also used to make canola oil.

Learn MORE about this species:

Rasbak, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Enrico Blasutto, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Rasbak, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Rasbak, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Rasbak, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
No machine-readable author provided. Bogdan assumed (based on copyright claims)., CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
TeunSpaans, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Matt Lavin from Bozeman, Montana, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Miya, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Matt Lavin from Bozeman, Montana, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Rasbak, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Rasbak, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

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Paridae

This black and yellow bird from Southeast Asia is related to chickadees and titmice

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Apocynaceae

A familiar weed of lawns, fields, roadsides, and gardens, this plant and its close relatives are the only species eaten by beautiful monarch butterflies.

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Poaceae

This worldwide wetland grass can grow up to 20 feet (6 meters) tall and can cover a quarter of a square mile or more in one stand!

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Auriculariaceae

This velvety rootbeer-colored, moist-looking, rubbery-textured, somewhat cup-shaped edible fungus grows on trees and downed logs

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Boraginaceae

This hairy little plant with 5 pointy petals is native to the Mediterranean region and is both edible and medicinal

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Fabaceae

A low-growing “trefoil” weed of lawns and disturbed, nitrogen-poor soil, distinguished by its tiny hop-like yellow flower clusters, pointed tips on each leaflet, and the terminal leaflet on a longer stalk or petiole

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