Narrative

Field Mustard (Brassica campestris to Brassica rapa) is a Eurasian weed that is found widely throughout the world. This biennial is from one to three feet tall. The lower leaves are more or less lobed. The upper leaves clasp the stem by an auricled base. Flowers are bright yellow. This species can also be recognized by seedpods that are either spreading or slightly ascending.

The nomenclature on this species is somewhat confusing: Linnaeus named Brassica rapa; Brassica campestris; Brassica campestris variety rapa; and Brassica rapa subspecies campestris. (Since most amateur botanists know the latter species by the name of B. campestris, there is a question why it had was changed to B. rapa. A recent author keeps this as two separate species.

The yellow color will help identify this lifeform. This lifeform is common. This lifeform is sometimes considered an undesirable species.

This lifeform is found widely in Eurasia. This lifeform is widespread in North America.

Brassica genus is native to Eurasia and especially the Mediterranean Region. There are about 30 annual, biennial, or perennial herbs in this genus. The showy yellow flowers are in racemes that have flowers at the top and seed pods below. There are 10 species and five named subspecies growing in greater North America.

Mustard Family (Cruciferae) is a very large family of mostly herbs. There are about 2,500 to 3,000 species usually organized into about 400 different genera. The family is important for food including brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, raddishes, mustard, and turnips. The family contains several weeds that are particularly troublesome to farmers in the genera Brassica and Barbarea. Modern botanists would like to change the name of this family to the Brassicaceae family. There are about 700 species arranged into about 100 genera in greater North America.

Rhoeadales Order includes the Poppies, Mustards, and mostly other non-woody groups of plants.

Dicots (Dicotyledoneae Class) are the predominant group of vascular plants on earth. With the exception of the grasses (Monocots) and the Conifers (Gymnosperms), most of the larger plants that one encounters are Dicots. Dicots are characterized by having a seed with two outer shell coverings.

Some of the more primitive Dicots are the typical hardwood trees (oaks, birches, hickories, etc). The more advanced Dicots include many of the Composite (Aster) Family flowers like the Dandelion, Aster, Thistles, and Sunflowers. Although many Monocots reach a very high degree of specialization, most botanists feel that the Dicots represent the most advanced group of plants.

Seed plants (Phylum Embryophyta) are generally grouped into one large phylum containing three major classes: the Gymnosperms, the Monocots, and the Dicots. (Some scientists separate the Gymnosperms into a separate phylum and refer to the remaining plants as flowering plants or Angiospermae.)

For North American counts of the number of species in each genus and family, the primary reference has been John T. Kartesz, author of A Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Canada, and Greenland (1994). The geographical scope of his lists include, as part of greater North America, Hawaii, Alaska, Greenland, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.

Kartesz lists 21,757 species of vascular plants comprising the ferns, gymnosperms and flowering plants as being found in greater North America (including Alaska, Hawaii, Greenland, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

There are estimates within the scientific world that about half of the listed North American seed plants were originally native with the balance being comprised of Eurasian and tropical plants that have become established.