Mustard

Mustard, common name for several plants of the cabbage family, especially those used to make the popular pungent condiment. Table mustard is prepared from powdered seeds of two species, black mustard and white mustard. Black mustard is a shaggy, many-branched plant, growing to about 1 m (3 ft) tall, with dark-green lyre-shaped and tapering leaves, small yellow flowers, and short seed pods pressed against the stems. It is common along roadsides and on waste ground. White mustard is a somewhat smaller plant, with similar leaves, larger flowers, and bristly pods which spread out from the stems. Seedlings of this species form the mustard of “mustard and cress”. Chinese mustard, also known as curled mustard or mustard greens, has large cleft leaves and is used as a vegetable. The yellow-flowered wild mustard of Europe is generally known as charlock.

See also Spices.

Scientific classification: Mustards belong to several genera in the family Brassicaceae Cruciterae. Black mustard is classified as Brassica nigra, and white mustard as Sinapis alba. Chinese mustard or curled mustard, or mustard greens, is classified as Brassica juncea variety crispifolia; charlock as Sinapis arvensis.