Sudden infestation with this yellow flowered low-leaved tall gangly plant

Could be Dalmatian Toadflax.

It looks like mustard to me. Wild mustard is found extensively in California, turning the hills near my house bright yellow in the spring.

You better watch out for deranged wild ketchup plants too! o_O

TDD

On 6/23/2013 6:01 PM, David E. Ross wrote: ...

Not at all like what we know of as wild mustard, anyways...

Wild mustard.

Here are some really spectacular pictures from the SF area back in March:

And on my mobile device the link you posted returns a message that says "The content owner has not made this video available on mobile"

I guess we're pretty much even. ;-)

I just got home and saw those pictures of the 4-petaled mustard plants in the San Francisco bay area. Those pictures are much more lush than mine - but I'll try to snap a closeup of the flower in the morning and compare.

I'll report back what I find in comparison to the net on the "wild mustard".

BTW, if it is wild mustard, might I be able to make mustard out of it? (I'll check - but I figured I'd ask also.)

This description seems apropos:

Clearly there are yellow flowers atop a stem.

I'll look in the morning to see if they're in groups of 4 petals. And, I'll look closer to see if they're not veined.

I didn't see any broccoli-like florets; but the leaves did radiate in a rosette.

Apparently I can cook and eat the leaves, and I can make a mustard spread out of the flower petals.

According to this article, it was brought to the Americas in the 1700s:

Apparently all parts of the plant are edible.

This article points out that the hairs on the stem make it "wild mustard":

I'll look for 4 long stamens and 2 short stamens and 1 pistil on the flowers:

The condiment is made from ground or crushed mustard seeds.

I'm pretty sure that plant isn't poke salad.

Have you ever eaten it cooked? My grandma used to cook it for us all the time and taught me how. You pull the leaves off the plant .. medium to smaller leaves are more tender, and then you boil them like you would spinach leaves 'til they are tender. After that you drain the boiled leaves and squeeze all the water out of the leaves you can get to come out of them. Next you add some oil to a frying pan, and break up the boiled leaves into the hot grease. Break 2 or 3 fresh eggs over the poke in the hot grease and stir fry the eggs with the poke. Add a bit of salt to taste while it's cooking. MMMMMMMmmm!!

I couldn't find any seeds ... but I ate a dozen of the florets (flower petals and all), which tasted surprisingly much like broccoli ...

If I never post ever again, please report *this* to the police!

Thanks for the assistance.

I didn't know what the seeds looked like, but I could easily see the green central florets, unveined yellow flower petals and what looks like six stamens (four tall, and two short) surrounding the one pistil as men surround a pretty lady at a bar:

I couldn't locate the mustard seed pods.

Where should I be looking for them?

Hi David, I think you're right (at least I hope you are, as I tasted a few florets today, and they tasted much like broccoli).

I just can't seem to find the mustard seeds though ... :(

The pods develop from the flowers. The pods contain the seeds and they go from green to black as the ripen.

Oh oh .... mustard weeds may be protected ... oh my God!

BTW, I hope I'm allowed to "take" *this* California animal I just caught in the house moments ago, while reaching for a level to hang a mirror for the wife:

I need better spider-catching tools than this plastic container:

Indeed. Check out the front row of the wife's spice shelf:

She grows the red-hot stuff herself, because she can't get 'em hot enough at the store ...

Hmmm... I was thinking these things were the actual seed pods:

Can someone confirm whether these are the actual seed pods?