Black mustard

Brassica nigra, the black mustard, is an annual plant cultivated for its black or dark brown seeds, which are commonly used as a spice. It is native to tropical regions of North Africa, temperate regions of Europe, and parts of Asia. It is an upright plant, with large stalked leaves. They are covered with hairs or bristles at the base, but on the stem smoother. It can reach up to 80–90 cm (31–35 in) tall or even up to 2.4 m (8 ft) in moist fertile soil. It blooms in summer, from May (in the UK) onwards. The flowers have four yellow petals, which are twice as long as the sepals. Each stem has around four flowers at the top, forming a ring around the stem. Later, the plant forms long seed pods, that contain four rounded seeds. It was formally described by Karl Koch in 'Deutschl. Fl.' (or Deutschlands Flora) ed.3 on page 713 in 1833. This was based on a description by the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus. The Latin specific epithet nigra is derived from the Latin word for black. This is due to the black seeds. It is native to tropical regions of North Africa, temperate regions of Europe and parts of Asia. It is found in North Africa, within Algeria, Egypt, Eritrea, Libya, Ethiopia, Morocco and Tunisia. Within Asia it is found in Afghanistan, Armenia, the Caucasus, China (in the provinces of Gansu, Jiangsu, Qinghai, Xinjiang and Xizang), Cyprus, India, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Syria and Turkey. In eastern Europe, it is found within Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine. In middle Europe, it is in Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia and Switzerland. In northern Europe, in Ireland and United Kingdom. In southeastern Europe, within Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Italy, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia. Also in southwestern Europe, it is found in France and Spain. It was introduced to the Pacific coast of North America and is considered an invasive species. More than 2,000 years ago, the plant was used as a condiment, it was mentioned by the Roman author Columella in the 1st century A.D. The plant leaves were also pickled in vinegar. In 13th century France the seeds were ground and used. They were mixed with partially fermented grape juice to create 'mout-ardent' (or burning must). This became later 'moutarde', now called mustard in English.