''Descurainia incana'' is a species of flowering plant in the
mustard family
Brassicaceae () or (the older) Cruciferae () is a medium-sized and economically important family of flowering plants commonly known as the mustards, the crucifers, or the cabbage family. Most are herbaceous plants, while some are shrubs. The l ...
known by the common name mountain tansymustard. It is native to much of North America, including most of Canada, the western United States, and
Baja California
Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...
. It is known from many types of habitat. It is a biennial herb with a slender, greenish, often hairy stem sometimes exceeding a meter tall. The leaves are narrowly to widely oval in shape, the lower ones lobed and sometimes compound, the upper generally unlobed. The mustardlike
inflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed ...
is a series of developing fruits beneath an elongating cluster of small bright yellow flowers. The fruit is a thin, pointed
silique
A silique or siliqua (plural ''siliques'' or ''siliquae'') is a type of fruit (seed capsule) having two fused carpels with the length being more than three times the width. When the length is less than three times the width of the dried fruit ...
up to 2 centimeters long.
External links
Jepson Manual TreatmentUSDA Plants ProfilePhoto gallery
incana
The Socotra warbler (''Incana incana'') is a species of bird
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high met ...
Flora of the Western United States
Flora of Baja California
Flora of California
Flora of the Sierra Nevada (United States)
Flora of Western Canada
Plants described in 1835
Flora without expected TNC conservation status
{{Brassicales-stub