Flixweed

[Descurainia sophia (L.) Webb ex Prantl]

Brassicaceae (Mustard Family)

 

seedling ▲

mature plants ▲▼

flowering stems with fruit ▲▼

stem with leaves ▲

fruit ▲

Flixweed:  (mentioned on p. 207, Weeds of the Great Plains—not in Weeds of the Northeast)

·         introduced annual or winter annual weed that grows 1-3’ tall, with many basal shoots

·         leaves are very finely divided (fernlike)

·         flowers are  yellow and siliques are 1-1.5” long, stand out from the stem on ½” long pedicels

·         common in winter annual crops (especially reduced tillage) and in open pastures/rangeland, more common on sandy soils

·         some reports of it being poisonous, but not widespread

·         native tansy mustard very closely resembles flixweed, but siliques are shorter (0.5-1.0”) and leaves are more ruffly—also can be a weed problem, but flixweed

o   (pp. 206-207, Weeds of the Great Plains—not in Weeds of the Northeast)