The mustard plant is any one of several plant species in the genera '' Brassica'' and ''

Sinapis ''Sinapis'' is a genus of plants in the family Brassicaceae. , six species are recognised by ''The Plant List'': *'' Sinapis alba'' L. – white mustard, formerly ''Brassica alba'' *'' Sinapis allionii'' Jacq. *''Sinapis arvensis ''Sinapis ar ...

'' in the family Brassicaceae (the mustard family). Mustard seed is used as a spice. Grinding and mixing the seeds with water, vinegar, or other liquids creates the yellow condiment known as prepared mustard. The seeds can also be pressed to make mustard oil, and the edible leaves can be eaten as mustard greens. Many vegetables are cultivated varieties of mustard plants; domestication may have begun 6,000 years ago.

History

Although some varieties of mustard plants were well-established crops in

Hellenistic In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in ...

and

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...

times, Zohary and Hopf note, "There are almost no

archeological Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landsca ...

records available for any of these crops." Wild forms of mustard and its relatives, the radish and turnip, can be found over West Asia and Europe, suggesting their domestication took place somewhere in that area. However, Zohary and Hopf conclude: "Suggestions as to the origins of these plants are necessarily based on linguistic considerations." The ''

Encyclopædia Britannica The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various t ...

'' states that mustard was grown by the

Indus Civilization The Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC), also known as the Indus Civilisation was a Bronze Age civilisation in the northwestern regions of South Asia, lasting from 3300 BCE to 1300 BCE, and in its mature form 2600 BCE to 1900 ...

of 2500–1700 BC. According to the Saskatchewan Mustard Development Commission, "Some of the earliest known documentation of mustard's use dates back to Sumerian and Sanskrit texts from 3000 BC". A wide-ranging genetic study of ''B. rapa'' announced in 2021 concluded that the species may have been domesticated as long as 6,000 years ago in

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes the fo ...

, and that turnips or oilseeds may have been the first product. The results also suggested that a taxonomic re-evaluation of the species might be needed.

Species

White mustard (''Sinapis alba'') grows wild in

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

West Asia Western Asia, West Asia, or Southwest Asia, is the westernmost subregion of the larger geographical region of Asia, as defined by some academics, UN bodies and other institutions. It is almost entirely a part of the Middle East, and includes ...

, and

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on ...

Europe, and has spread farther by long cultivation; brown mustard (''

Brassica juncea ''Brassica juncea'', commonly brown mustard, Chinese mustard, Indian mustard, leaf mustard, Oriental mustard and vegetable mustard, is a species of mustard plant. Cultivar ''Brassica juncea'' cultivars can be divided into four major subgroup ...

''), originally from the foothills of the Himalayas, is grown commercially in India, Canada, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Bangladesh and the United States; black mustard (''

Brassica nigra ''Brassica nigra'', or black mustard, is an annual plant cultivated for its dark-brown-to-black 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. Desc ...

'') is grown in Argentina, Chile, the US, and some European countries. Canada and Nepal are the world's major producers of mustard seed, between them accounting for around 57% of world production in 2010. White mustard is commonly used as a cover crop in Europe (between UK and Ukraine). Many varieties exist, ''e.g.'', in Germany and the Netherlands, mainly differing in lateness of flowering and resistance against white beet-cyst nematode (''

Heterodera schachtii ''Heterodera schachtii'', the beet cyst eelworm or sugarbeet nematode, is a plant pathogenic nematode. It infects more than 200 different plants including economically important crops such as sugar beets, cabbage, broccoli, and radish. ''H. sch ...

''). Farmers prefer late-flowering varieties, which do not produce seeds; they may become weeds in the subsequent year. Early vigor is important to cover the soil quickly and suppress weeds and protect the soil against erosion. In rotations with sugar beets, suppression of the white beet-cyst nematode is an important trait. Resistant white mustard varieties reduce nematode populations by 70–90%. Recent research has studied varieties of mustards with high oil contents for use in the production of

biodiesel Biodiesel is a form of diesel fuel derived from plants or animals and consisting of long-chain fatty acid esters. It is typically made by chemically reacting lipids such as animal fat ( tallow), soybean oil, or some other vegetable oi ...

, a renewable liquid fuel similar to

diesel fuel Diesel fuel , also called diesel oil, is any liquid fuel specifically designed for use in a diesel engine, a type of internal combustion engine in which fuel ignition takes place without a spark as a result of compression of the inlet air and ...

. The biodiesel made from mustard oil has good

flow Flow may refer to: Science and technology * Fluid flow, the motion of a gas or liquid * Flow (geomorphology), a type of mass wasting or slope movement in geomorphology * Flow (mathematics), a group action of the real numbers on a set * Flow (psyc ...

properties and cetane ratings. The leftover meal after pressing out the oil has also been found to be an effective pesticide. A genetic relationship between many species of mustard, along with turnips,

cabbage Cabbage, comprising several cultivars of ''Brassica oleracea'', is a leafy green, red (purple), or white (pale green) biennial plant grown as an annual vegetable crop for its dense-leaved heads. It is descended from the wild cabbage ( ''B.&n ...

, horseradish, wasabi and their respective derivatives, has been observed and is described as the

triangle of U The triangle of U ( ) is a theory about the evolution and relationships among the six most commonly known members of the plant genus ''Brassica''. The theory states that the genomes of three ancestral diploid species of ''Brassica'' combined to ...

Gallery

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mustard Plant Brassica Edible nuts and seeds Leaf vegetables Medicinal plants Plant common names

History

Species

Gallery

See also

References

External links