Tall Tumble-Mustard - Sisymbrium altissimum

Tall Tumble-Mustard
Sisymbrium altissimum L.

Family: Brassicaceae, Mustard
Genus: Sisymbrium

Description
Plant height: 30-150 cm tall.
Growth habit: erect annual, rather freely branched,
especially above, from taproot.
Stems: sparsely to fairly heavily covered with stiff, simple
hairs near the base but usually hairless above.

Leaves: alternate, broadly lance-shaped or oblong to
oblanceolate, up to 1.5 dm long, stalked, the lower ones
with sharp, backward teeth to pinnately lobed, becoming
pinnately cut into linear segments above.

Flowers: pale yellow, in open, branched clusters, with
4 petals 6-8 mm long and sepals about 4 mm long.
Flowering time: May-September.

Fruits: pods linear, little broader than the stalks, 5-10
cm long, cylindrical, spreading, rigid and branchlike. Stalks
stout, usually spreading, 4-10 mm long. Valves have a
prominent midnerve and evident lateral nerves. Seeds in 1
row, about 1 mm long, slightly slimy when wet.

Distribution
Common weed on disturbed ground in most parts of MT.
Introduced from Europe, now spread across N. America.

Edible and Medicinal plant: see below.

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Contents
Identification
English Names Index
Scientific Names Index
Family Index

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Edible uses:
Young leaves and shoots, raw or cooked, of tall tumblemustard, are edible. Having a somewhat hot flavor, they can be used as a flavoring in salads or cooked as a potherb. The seeds can be ground into a powder and used as a gruel or as a mustard-like flavoring in soups etc.

Medicinal uses:
The leaves and flowers have medicinal properties that has been used to cause tissue to contract. They also contain an agent that is effective against scurvy.