White mustard – Sinapis alba

Description of white mustard:

White mustard (white mustard) Sinapis alba Sinapolis alpinus – Cruciferae Annual plant growing from a quarter to half a metre in height. Stem cylindrical, covered with small hairs. Leaves are alternate and cleft on the stem. The individual leaflets are toothed. Flowers yellowish-pink. The fruit is bejeweled.

Occurrence:

Temperate terrestrial areas; cultivated in many places and also found wild in some places.

Part to be collected:

The seeds are collected and marketed as Semen Sinapis alba.

Active substances:

Sinalbin, glycosides, myrosine ensym, sinapin and about 30% fatty oil.

Cultivation:

Not very fastidious in soil, but grows best in calcareous loamy soils; – Not sensitive to climate or frost. To grow mustard, the soil must be ploughed in the autumn. The seeds are sown 30-40 cm apart in the soil fertilised the previous year. The seed requirement is 5 to 6 kg per hectare. Yield per acre is 4 – 5 q (mazsa) of seed per acre.

Harvesting and drying:

White mustard seeds should be harvested at full maturity, i.e. when the seeds are yellowish and the seed heads are yellowish brown in colour. The mustard is harvested with a scythe and then dried in bundles. After drying, the seeds are pitted.

Processing and marketing:

White mustard is grown mainly for its fatty oil. Its use in medicine is of minor importance. Source: Dr. Ferenc Darvas and Dr Gyula Magyary-Kossa,Domestic medicinal plants, their production, marketing, effects and medicinal uses