''Berteroa incana'' is a species of flowering plant in the mustard family,

Brassicaceae 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 leav ...

. Its common names include hoary alyssum, false hoary madwort, hoary berteroa,Jacobs, J. and J. Mangold
''Berteroa incana'' Plant Fact Sheet.
USDA NRCS Bozeman. December 2008. and hoary alison.Karran, A. B. and T. C. G. Rich. (2003)
Geographical and temporal distributions of ''Alyssum alyssoides'' and ''Berteroa incana'' (Brassicaceae) in the British Isles and the relationship to their modes of introduction.
''Watsonia'' 24(4), 499-506. It is a biennial herb native to Eurasia and it has been introduced to western Europe and North America. It is listed as an invasive noxious weed in some areas of United States and Canada

Description

Bombus lapidarius - Berteroa incana - Tallinn

''Berteroa incana'' is typically a biennial herbaceous flowering plant,''Berteroa incana''.
In: Klinkenberg, B. (Ed.) 2013. E-Flora BC: Electronic Atlas of the Plants of British Columbia. University of British Columbia. but it also grows as an annual to short-lived perennial. It is hairy, with flattened star-shaped and simple hairs. It produces one or more upright stems usually 30 to 80 centimeters tall, sometimes exceeding one meter. The basal leaves are up to 8 to 10 centimeters long.''Berteroa incana''.
Flora of North America. The leaves are hairy and grayish. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphology (biology), Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of sperma ...

is a dense raceme of flowers. The four white petals are roughly half a centimeter long and are tipped with two lobes. The fruit is a hairy

silicle 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 i ...

up to a centimeter long.

Uses

It is sometimes considered an

ornamental plant Ornamental plants or garden plants are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars that ...

good for landscaping purposes. It is planted to cover waste ground at

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic ...

sites and in urban areas in Europe.

As a weed

''B. incana'' is an invasive species of roadsides, railroads, farms and pastures, riverbanks, vacant lots, overgrazed rangelands, and

lawn A lawn is an area of soil-covered land planted with grasses and other durable plants such as clover which are maintained at a short height with a lawnmower (or sometimes grazing animals) and used for aesthetic and recreational purposes. ...

s In the United States. It tolerates cold winters and hot, dry summer conditions. It thrives in poor soils with sand and gravel, more often in alkali soils. It is a weed of alfalfa and

clover Clover or trefoil are common names for plants of the genus ''Trifolium'' (from Latin ''tres'' 'three' + ''folium'' 'leaf'), consisting of about 300 species of flowering plants in the legume or pea family Fabaceae originating in Europe. The genus ...

forage Forage is a plant material (mainly plant leaves and stems) eaten by grazing livestock. Historically, the term ''forage'' has meant only plants eaten by the animals directly as pasture, crop residue, or immature cereal crops, but it is also used ...

s, reducing their quality with its nutrient-poor herbage. It competes with native flora and reproduces continuously. It may reduce pollinators. The plant is likely introduced to new areas when its seed is distributed with agricultural crop seeds.

Toxicity

The plant is toxic to horses. Green and dry material is sometimes found in alfalfa feed. Signs of poisoning include

lameness A limp is a type of asymmetric abnormality of the gait. Limping may be caused by pain, weakness, neuromuscular imbalance, or a skeletal deformity. The most common underlying cause of a painful limp is physical trauma; however, in the absen ...

due to

laminitis Laminitis is a disease that affects the feet of ungulates and is found mostly in horses and cattle. Clinical signs include foot tenderness progressing to inability to walk, increased digital pulses, and increased temperature in the hooves. Seve ...

and leg edema, stiffness, fever, diarrhea, intravascular

hemolysis Hemolysis or haemolysis (), also known by several other names, is the rupturing ( lysis) of red blood cells (erythrocytes) and the release of their contents (cytoplasm) into surrounding fluid (e.g. blood plasma). Hemolysis may occur in vivo ...

, hypovolemic shock,

premature birth Preterm birth, also known as premature birth, is the birth of a baby at fewer than 37 weeks gestational age, as opposed to full-term delivery at approximately 40 weeks. Extreme preterm is less than 28 weeks, very early preterm birth is between 2 ...

abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pre ...

, gut ulceration, edema of the kidneys,

pulmonary edema Pulmonary edema, also known as pulmonary congestion, is excessive liquid accumulation in the tissue and air spaces (usually alveoli) of the lungs. It leads to impaired gas exchange and may cause hypoxemia and respiratory failure. It is due t ...

, and calcium crystals in the urine. It can be fatal, but most horses survive with treatment. The toxic compound is not known.''Berteroa incana''.
Poisonous Plants. Penn Veterinary Medicine. 2013.

References

External links

{{Taxonbar, from=Q159029

incana The Socotra warbler (''Incana incana'') is a species of bird in the family Cisticolidae. It is monotypic within the genus ''Incana''. It is endemic to Socotra. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry shrubland and subtropical or tr ...

Flora of Europe Flora of Asia Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus