Sinapis arvensis L.

Spice Fruit In the field

Family: CRUCIFERAE (BRASSICACEAE)

Genus: Sinapis

Catalan common name: Mostassa borda. Mostassa de camp.

Spanish common name: Liviana. Mostaza silvestre.

Province distribution: Balearic Islands. Barcelona. Girona. Lleida. València.

Distribution in the islands: Mallorca. Menorca. Ibiza. Cabrera.

General distribution (Phytogeography): Holoartica

IUCN Category: LCLeast concern

Flowering time: JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

Life-forms: Terophyte.

Habitats: Cultivated fields, path and road sides, disturbed zones. Cultivated and disturbed zones.

Characteristics: Annual herbaceous plant from dry fields and herbaria, rather large, up to almost a metre in height. Leaves are wide and very divided into irregular lobes that reach the rachis, and are scratchy to the touch. Flowers are yellow with four petals, characteristic of the family. The fruit is fundamnental for a sure classification, in the form of a silique, some four centimetres long with a conical beak sprouting form the apical side, approxiamately about a centimetre in length. Sinapis alba, which is a species that lives in the same habitats has a shorter silque with a beak that is as flat as the remainder of the fruit. Flowers almost year-round.