Family: Brassicaceae
High Risk Traits:
- Broad climate suitability
- Widely naturalized (but no records in the Hawaiian Islands to date)
- A cultivated crop that often escapes and may become a weed in other crops (but impacts are generally not explicitly documented)
- Other Sinapis species are invasive weeds
- Allelopathic
- Quite toxic - animals eating seeds or grazing plants in fruit may suffer severe distress and die in a few days
- Plants may also be toxic or allergenic to humans
- Tolerates many soil types
- Reproduces by seeds
- An annual, reaching maturity rapidly
- Seeds dispersed intentionally and accidentally by humans, and externally by animals
- Seeds may also be spread as a contaminant in other crops
Low Risk Traits:
- Valued as a palatable crop, with negative impacts generally not specified in agricultural settings
- Unarmed (no spines, thorns, or burrs)
- Palatable fodder plant (when not in fruit)
- Grows best in high light environments (dense shade may inhibit spread)
- Self-incompatible
- Seeds reported to lack dormancy in natural settings (although may be stored for long periods)
- Herbicides may provide effective control
- Mechanical means effective at controlling volunteers in crops or fallow ground
