Brassicaceae, the mustard family.
Description:
Plant:
Erect, often branching plant to 30" high with an unpleasant smell, stems topped by
rounded clusters of small, white flowers that develop into flat, notched seeds.
Annual.
Flowers:
White, small, 1/8", with four petals and four sepals, in a rounded cluster
(raceme) atop an elongating fruiting stem. The flowers do not open widely.
Leaves:
Alternate, ovate to oblong, 1"-2", more or less toothed, sessile, with a lobed base
that clasps the stem, and generally smooth.
Fruit:
A deeply notched, almost round, winged capsule about 1/2" long.
Blooming:
April-August
Habitat:
Fields, waste areas, disturbed ground.
Comments:
Naturalized from Europe, this mustard family member is sometimes
a troublesome weed in grain fields.
The plant has a markedly unpleasant odor that provides another common name: stinkweed.
It is supposedly edible, boiled in one or more changes of water to remove the bitter
taste (and presumably the odor).
Where to find it:
I have found it growing on fresh mounds of earth adjacent to the Islamic center (2009),
and on the pond shore near the lodge.