While the grocery store might have a plethora of different kinds of mustards, so do our natural environments.
Mustards or brassicas are a large plant family sporting several thousand different species. Their main defining features are their four-petaled flowers and their pod-like fruits, which are called siliques. Brassicas are both an important crop and a pest at the same time. Brassica oleracea is one example of an edible mustard, and, more interesting, cabbage, kale and broccoli are all varieties of this same species.
On the weedy side, we have several mustard species locally that are either undesirable or are noxious.
Alyssum is a species that I get many calls on each year. It’s an innocuous annual that usually goes unnoticed when it’s alive. It stands only a few inches tall and has pin-sized yellow flowers. Once it goes to seed, it starts to garner attention; its seed-pods have tiny little burs which stick to everything they touch. Walk through a patch of this plant and your socks, pants, shoelaces, dog, etc. will be covered in little round siliques.
Blue mustard is another species that you’ll probably smell before you see it. Exactly what it smells like depends on who you ask, but most people agree it is unpleasant and I personally would liken it to a stale dishrag.
Tumble mustard (many mustards have unimaginative names) is another weedy species that can be seen blowing across streets, yards and pastures in the spring and fall.
Regarding noxious weeds, mustards have a place at the table and are as numerous on the list as thistles — whitetop, perennial pepperweed, dame’s rocket, dyer’s woad and elongated mustard.
Only whitetop (aka hoary cress), perennial pepperweed (sometimes called tall whitetop) and dame’s rocket occur in Archuleta County.
Dame’s rocket is an attractive plant with purple flowers that may be mistaken for fireweed. Likely habitats for it are your garden or a neighbor’s. It is a biennial and the easiest management for it is hand-pulling. Whitetop and perennial pepperweed both spread through creeping root systems and are best managed with herbicides.
Whitetop is found throughout the county though it is more common in Chromo and Pagosa Springs, while perennial pepperweed has few populations in Pagosa and Arboles.
Archuleta County Weed and Pest is your local resource for managing noxious weed populations and controlling other pests..
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CPR and first aid certification classes are offered every other month at the CSU Extension office, generally on the third Monday and Wednesday from 6 to 10 p.m. The cost for the classes is $80 for combined CPR/first aid and $55 for CPR, first aid or recertification. Call the Extension office at (970) 264-5931 to register.
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