Sahara Mustard (African Mustard)
Family Brassicaceae
Brassica tournefortii
Designation/Status
Arizona Noxious Weed List -
Not Listed
Federal Noxious Weed List – Not Listed
Origins
Native to North Africa and
Central Asia, but now is found in warm arid regions worldwide.
Plant Characteristics
Life Cycle: Annual spring herb, that
exhibits prolific production of small seeds. When moist, the seeds
become very sticky and adhere to animal fur and other means of
conveyance such as the undercarriages of vehicles. Wind dispersed
when dead mature plants are blown across non-infested landscapes.
Visual Appearance: Forming rosettes
generally 6-12 inches in diameter.
Stems are 12-47 inches tall and grow from the
basal rosette. Leaves are widely variable in size and have tiny
bristles. Small, pale yellow flowers are produced from January to
April or May. Tiny reddish seeds are borne in narrow pods.
Habitat
Prefers sandy soils in
washes, flats, and at the bases and inter-troughs of dunes below
3,000 feet, but also found on rocky slopes and is common on
cultivated land and roadsides
Control Measures
Prevention:
Reduce soil disturbance and
maintain groundcover to proactively prevent the establishment of
Sahara Mustard.
Mechanical and Cultural: Hand-pulling small
infestations has proved effective.
Biological: None
Chemical: Application of herbicides early in its life
cycle while it is actively growing.
Other Points of Interest
In the Sonoran Desert, it
was established in southeast California in 1938. The earliest
record in Arizona is from Yuma in 1957. Sahara Mustard tends to
establish quickly in the winter and early spring which then leads
to it dominating later-flowering spring annuals. In large stands,
it can prohibit wildlife movement and use of the habitat. Dead
herbage of Sahara Mustard increases wildfire fuel loads, which
threatens species not naturally adapted to fires.
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