Strigosella africana(L.) Botsch.

African mustard

WFO wfo-0000432092 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Strigosella africana, photographed by John Gaskin
fig. a John Gaskin, CC0 1.0 / 2022-06-04 / obs. 203815136
Strigosella africana, photographed by John Gaskin
fig. b John Gaskin, CC0 1.0 / obs. 201716730
Strigosella africana, photographed by John Gaskin
fig. c John Gaskin, CC0 1.0 / obs. 201715187
Strigosella africana, photographed by John Gaskin
fig. d John Gaskin, CC0 1.0 / obs. 200380494
Strigosella africana, photographed by Lyrae
fig. e Lyrae, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 194915470
Strigosella africana, photographed by Robbie Hannawacker
fig. f Robbie Hannawacker, CC0 1.0 / obs. 187375996
Strigosella africana, photographed by Cecelia Alexander
fig. g Cecelia Alexander, CC0 1.0 / obs. 182409194
Strigosella africana, photographed by Konstantin Grebennikov
fig. h Konstantin Grebennikov, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 132197109

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 45 botanical countries

Regions where Strigosella africana is native: Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Afghanistan, Altay, China North-Central, China South-Central, China Southeast, Gulf States, Inner Mongolia, Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan, Kuwait, Lebanon-Syria, Mongolia, North Caucasus, Oman, Palestine, Qinghai, Saudi Arabia, Sinai, Tadzhikistan, Tibet, Transcaucasus, Türkiye, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Xinjiang, India, Pakistan, West Himalaya, East European Russia, Greece, Italy, Kriti, Krym, NW. Balkan Pen., Sicilia, South European Russia, Spain, Türkiye-in-Europe, Ukraine AlgeriaLibyaMoroccoTunisiaAfghanistanAltayChina North-CentralChina South-CentralChina SoutheastGulf StatesInner MongoliaIranIraqKazakhstanKirgizstanKuwaitLebanon-SyriaMongoliaNorth CaucasusOmanPalestineQinghaiSaudi ArabiaSinaiTadzhikistanTibetTranscaucasusTürkiyeTurkmenistanUzbekistanXinjiangIndiaPakistanWest HimalayaEast European RussiaGreeceItalyKritiKrymNW. Balkan Pen.SiciliaSouth European RussiaSpainTürkiye-in-EuropeUkraine
Native distribution of Strigosella africana, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Afghanistan AFG ASIA-TEMPERATE
Altay ALT
China North-Central CHN
China South-Central CHC
China Southeast CHS
Gulf States GST
Inner Mongolia CHI
Iran IRN
Iraq IRQ
Kazakhstan KAZ
Kirgizstan KGZ
Kuwait KUW
Lebanon-Syria LBS
Mongolia MON
North Caucasus NCS
Oman OMA
Palestine PAL
Qinghai CHQ
Saudi Arabia SAU
Sinai SIN
Tadzhikistan TZK
Tibet CHT
Transcaucasus TCS
Türkiye TUR
Turkmenistan TKM
Uzbekistan UZB
Xinjiang CHX
East European Russia RUE EUROPE
Greece GRC
Italy ITA
Kriti KRI
Krym KRY
NW. Balkan Pen. YUG
Sicilia SIC
South European Russia RUS
Spain SPA
Türkiye-in-Europe TUE
Ukraine UKR
Algeria ALG AFRICA
Libya LBY
Morocco MOR
Tunisia TUN
India IND ASIA-TROPICAL
Pakistan PAK
West Himalaya WHM

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Flowering 237 in flower of 286 examined

Peak flowering in Apr. Each bar is the share of Strigosella africana observations in which someone actually recorded the reproductive state and found the plant in flower, not the raw number of flowering records. That distinction matters: people observe plants far more in spring than in winter, so a bare count of flowering records partly measures when people go outside. Dividing by the number examined removes that. 237 of 286 examined observations were in flower, every one of them research grade. The whisker on each bar is a 95% Wilson interval. 7 months have fewer than 5 examined observations, so no proportion is drawn for them. This is still a global aggregate and not a forecast for your garden: the same species flowers on different dates in different hemispheres. Where a species has fewer than 30 flowering records we do not draw this chart at all. Computed from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

Also published as 22 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Cheiranthus scaber Moench
  • Cheiranthus taraxacifolius Balb.
  • Crucifera africana (L.) E.H.L.Krause
  • Erysimum polyceratum Pall.
  • Fedtschenkoa africana (L.) F.Dvořák
  • Fedtschenkoa taraxacifolia (Balb.) F.Dvořák
  • Hesperis africana L.
  • Hesperis hispida Schreb. ex Roth
  • Hesperis jasa hort. ex Fisch., C.A.Mey. & Avé-Lall.
  • Hesperis laxa Lam.
  • Hesperis pachypodium E.Fourn.
  • Malcolmia africana (L.) W.T.Aiton
  • Malcolmia africana var. africana W.T. Aiton
  • Malcolmia africana var. divaricata Fisch.
  • Malcolmia africana var. gracilis O.E.Schulz
  • Malcolmia calycina Sennen
  • Malcolmia divaricata Fisch. ex Fisch. & C.A.Mey.
  • Malcolmia laxa DC.
  • Malcolmia taraxacifolia DC.
  • Strigosella africana var. laxa (Lam.) Botsch.
  • Strigosella laxa (Lam.) Galushko ex V.I.Dorof.
  • Wilckia africana (L.) F.Muell.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. USDA PLANTS Database. common name, checklist symbol MAAF. public domain. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.