Ontario Weeds: Tumble mustard
Return to the Ontario Weeds Gallery
Excerpt from Publication 505, Ontario Weeds, Order this publication
Table of Contents
- Name
- Other Names
- Family
- General Description
- Stems and Roots
- Leaves
- Flowers and Fruit
- Habitat
- Similar Species
- Related Links
Name: Tumble mustard, Sisymbrium
altissimum L.,
Other Names: Tumbling mustard, Tumbleweed,
sisymbre élevé, moutarde roulante
Family: Mustard Family (Cruciferae)
General Description: Annual or winter
annual, reproducing only by seed.
Tumble mustard, note very long, slender seedpods.
Tumble mustard. A. Base of plant. B. Flowering branch. C. Seedling,
top ad side views. D. Young basal rosette.
Stems & Roots: Stems 30-120cm (1-4ft)
high, much-branched in the upper part, becoming rather woody and brittle
as the plant matures; lower stem and leaves hairy with spreading white
hair, but upper parts smooth.
Leaves: First leaves in a basal rosette,
becoming large, hairy, shallowly toothed or deeply lobed or usually
completely divided into 6 or more pairs of broad, jagged-toothed segments
plus a terminal lobe which is never much larger than the side segments;
upper leaves narrow and either shallowly toothed or pinnately divided
into many very slender segments which are sometimes nearly thread-like;
rosette and lower leaves usually dried and gone by flowering time.
Flowers & Fruit: Flowers pale yellow,
resembling Wild
mustard but smaller, 6mm (¼in.) across, in loose clusters
at tips of branches; seedpods very slender and very long, 5-10cm (2-4in.)
long, stiff, wide-spreading and almost branch-like, about the same
thickness as their stalks, splitting in 3 lengthwise; seeds about
1mm (1/25in.) long, oblong, yellow to reddish-yellow, olive-green,
or light brown. Flowers from June to early autumn.
Habitat: Tumble mustard is found throughout
Ontario, usually along railway tracks, roadsides and in waste areas
but it is appearing with greater frequency in grainfields, especially
on sandy soils in the southern portion of the province.
Similar Species: When the seedpods are
nearly mature, Tumble mustard is easily distinguished from all other
mustards in Ontario because it is the only one with such long thin
pods. Rosettes can be distinguished by the terminal lobe of the hairy,
divided leaf not being larger than the jagged-toothed lobes along
the sides. Young plants up to early flowering can be distinguished
by having coarsely lobed basal and lower stem leaves but finely divided
upper leaves.
Related Links
... on general Weed
topics
... on weed identification, order OMAFRA
Publication 505: Ontario Weeds
... on weed control, order OMAFRA
Publication 75: Guide To Weed Control
For more information:
Toll Free: 1-877-424-1300
E-mail: ag.info.omafra@ontario.ca