Stats

Lifespan: Annual
Size: Medium
Diet: Photosynthetic
Biome: Mediterranean shrubland
Range: Mediterranean Basin
Movement: Sessile
Breeding: Seeds
Defense: Toxins
Status: Common

About

An aggressive Mediterranean mustard that has colonised roadsides and disturbed ground across California, often turning whole hillsides brilliant yellow in spring. Its siliques (seed pods) are unusually short and held tight against the stem — a trait that lets each plant disperse thousands of seeds before the pods even look ripe.

Life cycle

1.
seed
A dormant seed waits for water and warmth before germinating.
2.
sprout
A first shoot emerges with cotyledon leaves and a tap root reaching down.
3.
sapling
A young plant grows true leaves and a stem or trunk, putting on height each season.
4.
mature
Fully grown, flowering or fruiting at adult size.

Learn more

Taxonomy

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Brassicales
Family: Brassicaceae
Genus: Hirschfeldia
Species: Hirschfeldia incana