Thursday, March 4, 2010


This is a very bold, non-native mustard and covers many hills in a bright yellow. I'm using Calflora for this ID. It's also known as Brassica campestris and is closely related to rapeseed (Brassica napus). As I was trying to figure out the difference between the two species, I came across this genetic Triangle of U theory. Interesting.

As an aside - speaking of rapeseed, does anyone else smell and taste fish in canola oil? I'm guessing it's a genetic trait like with phenylthiocarbamide. We've only recently discovered our sensitivity to canola oil's fishiness. And here I long thought fishy tasting fries at certain local restaurants were due to dirty fryer oil. Plus, it's too bad our local grocer has stopped carrying Best Foods mayo with olive oil, because the alternative brand Kraft primarily contains canola oil. Phooey!

ps 02/09/11 - For common names of plants, I often look to The Jepson Online Interchange from UC Berkeley, e.g., click to see the page for this particular species.

No comments: