Flixweed

Flixweed

[Descurainia sophia (L.) Webb ex Prantl]

Brassicaceae (Mustard Family)

▲ ▼ seedlings

▲ young plants

mature plants ▲ ▼

▲ ▼ maure flowering plants

flowering stems with fruit ▲ ▼

▲ flowers

stem with leaves ▲

fruit ▲

▲ ▼ mature plants alongside a wheat field

Flixweed:

introduced annual or winter annual weed that grows 1-3’ tall, with many basal shoots
leaves are very finely divided (fernlike)
flowers are yellow and siliques are 1-1.5" long, stand out from the stem on 1/2" long pedicels
common in winter annual crops (especially reduced tillage) and in open pastures/rangeland, more common on sandy soils
some reports of it being poisonous, but not widespread
native tansy mustard very closely resembles flixweed, but siliques are shorter (0.5-1.0") and leaves are more ruffly---also can be a weed problem, but flixweed