Descurainia pinnata ssp. menziesii (DC). Detl                                                                = Sisymbrium pinnatum ssp. menziesii                                                              Brassicaceae (Mustard Family)                                                             Native   Tansy-Mustard   Pepper Grass.

                          February Photo

Plant Characteristics:  Erect annual to 6 dm. high, not branched at base; herbage ashy tomentulose (gray with soft or wooly hairs), sometimes glandular; lvs. 2-9 cm. long, basal and lower cauline 2-3 pinnate with fine linear to oblanceolate segments, hairs dense; upper lvs. 1-2 pinnate, lobes acute at tip, linear to oblanceolate; pedicels divaricate-ascending, 7-14 mm. long; sepals mostly equal to or exceeding the greenish yellow petals, 2-2.5 mm. long; siliques linear, often curved, 1-3 cm. long, ca. 1 mm. thick, silique septum with 2-3 longitudinal nerves, loosely ascending; style very short; seeds 10-20 in each cell, oblong-ellipsoid, ca. .8 mm. long.

Habitat: San Joaquin Valley, south to the deserts and west to coastal S. Calif., below 2500 m.  March-June.

Name:  Named for F. Descurain, French botanist, (1658-1740).  (Munz, Flora So. Calif. 286).  Latin, pinnatus, plumed, with feathers, winged.  Menziesii is for Archibald Menzies (1754-1842).  Surgeon and naturalist to Vancouver's Pacific Coast expedition.  (Jaeger 198,313).  The species name probably refers to the fine segments of the pinnate leaves.

General:  Common in the study area and very common on the Castaway's Bluffs and along the lower path near the Delhi Ditch.  (my comments).     All of the species are edible, although some are better than others.  They may be eaten as greens and the seeds may be parched, ground and eaten as mush or used in other ways.  The Mexicans used the seeds in poultices for wounds.  This species is reported to be poisonous to livestock, but only when eaten in large quantities over a long period of time.  It causes partial or complete blindness, accompanied by an inability to use the tongue or to swallow.  The seeds of many of the wild mustards were used by the Indians.  They were gathered by knocking them into baskets, they were then parched and ground for use in soup or mush.  D. pinnata is sold in Mexican drug stores as Pamito.  The leaves can be boiled or roasted and eaten, though several changes of water are necessary to make them palatable.  (Clarke 65,205).     Pinole was a staple food widely used.  It was a fine flour made by grinding chia, tansy mustard or many of the grasses and annual flouring plants.  It was eaten dry or in some form of mush.  The tiny, red seeds of tansy mustard were gathered by the Indians and tossed in a tightly woven basket with hot coals until roasted, then ground.  The leaves were boiled or roasted and enjoyed much as we like mustard greens.  Tansy Mustard was used for stomach ills, especially for children.  (Bauer 54, 158 and a page not recorded).      The ground seeds were used by the Cahuilla, Indians of the Colorado Desert the San Jacinto and San Bernardino Mountains, to flavor soups or as a condiment with corn.  (Bean and Saubel 66).     About 20 species of temperate Eurasia and America.  (Munz, Flora So. Calif. 286).       D. pinnata has been found to accumulate free nitrates in quantities capable of causing death or distress in cattle.  (Fuller 385).      In Mexico the seeds were made into a poultice for wounds.  Brooks wrote  "It is said to be an attenuate, expectorant and diuretic, and is strongly recommended in chronic coughs and hoarseness.  (Sweet 41).          The seeds of D. pinnata were an important food of the Kawaiisu Indians of the southern Sierra Nevada region. The seeds were beaten out as the plant turned brown in June.  They were parched on a flat tray, pounded, sifted, mixed with cold water and drunk.  Seeds were also stored for future use.  (Campbell 164).        Hickman, Ed. says there are eight difficult subspecies, but only four are listed.  (Hickman, Ed. 414).        Munz, Flora So. Calif. lists only three of the subspecies.        Ssp. menziesii was confirmed as our local ssp. in 1994.  (my comments).

Text Ref:  Bean & Saubel 66; Hickman, Ed. 414; Munz, Calif Flora 233; Munz, Flora So. Calif.  286; Robbins et al. 224; Roberts 16.

Photo Ref:  Feb 2 84 # 8; Feb 85 # 3A; Mar 85 # 17A; Feb 1 86 # 5,6.

Identity: by R. De Ruff, confirmed by F. Roberts.  

Computer Ref:  Plant Data 7.

Have plant specimen.

Last edit  10/23/02.

                                             March Photo