|
mustard seed flowers in a field
|
| Common Names |
| Black Mustard , Mustard Seed, Brown mustard |
| Botanical Name |
| Brassica nigra |
| Family |
| BRASSICACEAE or CRUCIFERAE Cabbage Family |
|
|
|
|
|
Arthritis *
Congestion/Chest & Sinus *
Cough *
Culinary *
|
| Parts Used: Seeds and leaves |
| Constituents:A glycoside (sinigrin) and an enzyme (myrosin); on contact with water, myrosin acts on sinigrin, setting free allyl isothiocyanate (mustard oil) responsible for mustard's pungent smell. Also: fixed oils (up to 37%), proteins, mucilage |
|
|
Pungent mustard oil is antibacterial and antifungal, warm and stimulating. Mustard not only adds a spicey tang to food, but it eases digestion. Mustard can be applied externally in poultices, or added to foot baths in the treatment of stubborn chest congestion and coughs, arthitis,and poor circulation.
Mabey, Richard ,53 |
|
Prep Methods :culinary spice, poultice, bath additive
 Remedies using Black Mustard
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Black mustard seeds make an excellent stimulating poultice (mixed with a soothing substance such as slippery elm powder) for stubborn coughs and arthritis joints. Mustard foot baths are good for poor circulation, chilblains, and upper respiratory mucus. 1278
(Mabey, Richard p53) |
|
| Side Effects: |
|---|
| Overuse may blister the skin. Do not use it if your thyroid function is low or if taking thyroxine. Mabey, Richard ,48 |
|
Koehler's Medicinal-Plants 1887
- Flowers: Bright yellow, fading pale, 1\4 to 1\2 in. across, 4-parted, in elongated racemes; quickly followed by narrow, upright 4-sided pods about 1\2 in. long appressed against the stem.
- Stem: Erect, 2 to 7 ft. tall, branching.
- Leaves: Variously lobed and divided, finely toothed, the terminal lobe larger than the 2 to 4 side ones..
- Flowering Season: June—November.
- Preferred Habitat: Roadsides, fields, neglected gardens.
- Distribution: Common throughout our area; naturalized from Europe and Asia.
"The kingdom of heaven is like unto a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field: which indeed is less than all seeds-, but when it is grown, it is greater than the herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof."
Commentators differ as to which is the mustard of the parable—this common Black Mustard, or a rarer shrub-like tree (Salvadora Persica), with an equivalent Arabic name, a pungent odor, and a very small seed. Inasmuch as the mustard which is systematically planted for fodder by Old World farmers grows with the greatest luxuriance in Palestine, and the comparison between the size of its seed and the plant's great height was already proverbial in the East when Jesus used it, evidence strongly favors this wayside weed. Indeed, the late Doctor Royle, who endeavored to prove that it was the shrub that was referred to, finally found that it does not grow in Galilee.
Now, there are two species which furnish the most powerfully pungent condiment known to commerce; but the tiny dark brown seeds of the Black Mustard are sharper than the serpent's tooth, whereas the pale brown seeds of the White Mustard, often mixed with them, are far more mild. The latter (Brassica alba) is a similar, but more hairy, plant, with slightly larger yellow flowers.
Netje Blanchan. Wild Flowers worth Knowing (1917)
|
 The ancient Greek physicians held mustard in such esteem that they attributed its discovery to Aesculapius, demigod of medicine and healing. (Grieve, Maude., 568) |
Common Typos:
|
|
