Hedge Mustard

Sisymbrium officinale

Hedge mustard (Sisymbrium officinale) is a widespread common annual herb, found throughout New Zealand in pasture, cultivated land, gardens and road-sides. It grows in a rosette formation up to 1 m tall and has broad hairy leaves with deep lobes. The end lobe has a rounded shape. Flowers are very small, pale yellow, numerous, and can be found at the top of the main stem or at the end of branches. Stems are upright, with downward pointing hairs and alternate branches. Seed pods are found close to the stems; seeds are 1 mm long, brown and oblong.

Related Pests

Mouse-eared Chickweed

Cerastium glomeratum

Mouse-eared chickweed (Cerastium glomeratum) is found throughout New Zealand, in gardens, bare ground, waste areas, and grass grub-damaged pastures. The leaves are sticky, hairy, grow in opposite pairs and are of a greenish-yellow hue. They have a mouse-eared shape and grow to about 25mm long. The flowers are white, clustered and have five petals with deep notches. Flowers appear September to November and stand above pasture in spring. Seeds are tiny, numerous and have a brown rough appearance and are often found in clover seed.

Rayless Chamomile

Matricaria dioscoidea

Rayless chamomile (Matricaria dioscoidea) is an erect annual, found in waste and cultivated ground and footpaths. It is resistant to cold, trampling and many herbicides. The greenish yellow leaves have a feathered appearance and give off a pineapple scent when crushed. The composite flowers are yellow with green tinges and growing at the end of the branches. It is not particularly common in New Zealand, and found chiefly in the North Island, and the north and east of the South Island.

Storksbill

Erodium cicutarium

Storksbill (Erodium cicutarium) is an invasive, sticky, hairy plant which grows in rossetes up to 30 cm across. It is widespread throughout New Zealand in drier coastal and lowland areas, and found in pasture, grassland and arable land. The leaves are pinnate, resemble ferns, and are divided into pairs of leaflets. The flowers are a mauve-pink colour, have five undivided petals, and are arranged in loose clusters on reddish coloured hairy stalks. Flowering is September to May.

The seeds are contained in a long seed-pod which resembles the bill of a stork. When ripe the seed-pod bursts open into five strips, launching the seeds like little parachutes, or by means of the strips which have seeds attached to them, burying themselves into loose soil.