Charlock
Sinapis arvensis
Family · Brassicaceae · Harmless
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The yellow that takes over cornfields and ploughed land in spring. It is a crucifer, and no European member of this family kills, which makes it a good place to start eating wild plants.
Fields and pasture · Roadsides and waste ground · Town and roadside
Also known aswild mustard, field mustard
How to tell it
Four yellow petals in a cross. A smooth straight pod with a conical beak at the tip, without constrictions. A stem with stiff downward-pointing hairs low down. Large lobed lower leaves.
What it is confused with
Wild radish
Raphanus raphanistrum
The pod decides: mustard's is smooth, wild radish's is constricted between the seeds like a string of beads. Both edible, and the mistake costs nothing.
Open sheet →What it is for
Young leaves cooked and flowers in salad, as with the whole family. The seeds make a coarse mustard. Gather away from treated fields, because it is the weed that takes the most herbicide.
Traditionally used as food. This is not permission to eat it.