Orange County's unromantic mustard

Mustard at Crystal Cove State Park, Laguna Beach (Photo by author)

Mustard plants are a non-native invader in California and didn’t arrive in the way legends suggest.

According to lore, a Spanish friar, traveling between the missions, planted mustard seeds along the way, marking El Camino Real with yellow flowers. (In some versions of the story, the Franciscan in question is even cited as having been Fr. Junipero Serra!) It's all very romantic, but extremely unlikely. 

Neither was the mustard planted to feed cattle -- Another recurring origin tale. Cattle don't like the stuff.

More likely, mustard was grown as a crop at the missions (for its oil, if not for culinary purposes) and quickly spread out of control.  As early as 1827, Capt. José María Estudillo, reporting on Mission San Juan Capistrano, wrote that mustard made most of the land useless, and that “There is so much of it that it cannot be destroyed by human means.” 

Today, mustard continues to strangle out native plants. It may taste good on hot dogs, but it’s also a mistake California will never forget.

Mustard in the dry season, Loma Ridge, Irvine (Photo by author)