Wild Mustard / Charlock (Sinapis arvensis, Carl Linnaeus)
Brassicaceae: Mustard Family
Height: Up to 1 metre.
Annual: Seen all year round in Alicante, Spain.
A Common and a globally widespread plant, found in numerous countries. All over Europe and North and South Africa, into most Middle Eastern and Asian countries, North America, South America, Australia, Japan, the list goes on.
Habitat: Will be seen growing almost anywhere, from the sides of roads and pathways, arable farmlands, waste grounds, meadows and grasslands. It prefers calcareous (chalky or lime) soils in sunlit places.
Fruit is 2 to 5cm long, the cylinder-shaped seed capsule (named a silique, being more than three times the length than the width) contains the black to purple-coloured seeds.
The leaves of the wild mustard are edible once boiled and can be eaten. In the 18th century famine crisis, (particularly in Ireland) it became a survival food for many people, although it was known to cause diarrhoea.
The seeds when crushed, produce a kind of mustard, also an oil can be extracted from the seed, to be used for lubricating metal for machinery.