Chorispora tenella

Chorispora tenella -- flowers

Purple mustard is a favorite edible of another local forager. He spends more time in desert terrain, where this is more common, so he finds it a lot more than I do, but I do admit that this is well worth seeking out. You can check out his website at wildutahedibles.com.

This is a rather weedy species, and grows well in disturbed soils. So one of the best places to find it is in on dirt piles near construction sites. Any place which has been disturbed, but not landscaped yet it prime terrain for this plant. It is best to pick it in the spring, when the leaves are younger and tender, and the flowers still blooming. It can get tough later in the summer.

The leaves and seed pods have a very good mustard flavor. They are kind of spicy, so I would not eat a lot of it plain, but as a way to add mustard flavor to a sandwich or other dish, this does the flavor with excellence.

entire plant

It is best when young enough that the flowers are still blooming, so they are a good way to identify the plant. Look for four purple petals in a cross shape. The petals are also a bit wavy, with darker purple near the center. Purple flowers are uncommon in the mustard family. The long seed pods also confirm it as a member of the mustard family.

The only species in the area which looks similar is African mustard. That plant also has four-petaled purple flowers, but they are much smaller, with shorter petals which do not form an obvious cross shape. The leaves are also covered with spiny hairs which make it unpleasant to try to eat.

Alliaria petiolata

Alliaria petiolata

Garlic mustard is a very invasive plant, and a large problem in many areas of the country. It is not a very common plant in my mountains, except for a few very tourist-laden towns and scout camps, where visitors come from far away places, and accidentally track in seeds in the mud on their shoes. I found in locally in a couple of those places. In the scout camp, is it becoming a serious problem, and taking up a large area there.

The leaves, flowers, and seed pods are edible, and taste a lot like garlic, the seeds more so than the leaves. They both have a strong flavor, so I would not want to eat large quantities alone, but it makes a good spice to flavor other food.

It can be identified by flowers, leaves and seed pods. The flowers are white and four-petaled. They develop into long seed pods, which are thin and four-angled. The leaves somewhat triangular or heart-shaped, with large teeth on the edges. The basal leaves which are lowest on the stem and the first to emerge from the ground are more rounded.

The plant resembles Cardamine cordifolia. The main difference is that the leaves of this plant are more toothed on the edges. Alliaria petiolata will grow everywhere, while Cardmine cordifolia grows in streams. And the taste is completely different.