| California Wild Radish |
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| Family: Brassicaceae (Mustard) |
| Flowers — color: white, magenta, light blue, size: 1", type: 4 petals |
Four petals arranged in a cross-shape [X, cruciform], roughly 1" diameter, with yellow pistils and stamen. This radish's cross is not square, but more rectangular. The blooms form tight clusters on separate branching flower stems. Colors vary among nearby plants, ranging from magenta to white to light blue, a variation resulting from crossbreeding [see below].
Habit:
Wild Radish is an annual that originated in southeast Asia, possibly China. Radish has escaped back to the wild and crossbred with charlock, producing our wild radish with varying charasteristics intermediate to its heritage. Radish contributed a purple pigment and charlock a yellow pigment, and white flowers lack both.
Multiple stems, green and reddish, form a rough mound to two feet diameter. The leaf tops are smooth and indented by veins and ribs. Its edges may have two or more indentation creating several lobes. Sunny open areas, considered invasive.
Many native plants have developed a complex myccorhizal relationship with soil fungi. The fungus dissolves minerals and nutrients from the soil that the plant needs, and gets some sugar from the roots. Wild Radish does not require any soil fungus, so it can outcompete many native California plants in disturbed soils. Along with mustard and other non-natives, it grows along the VVCSD driveway, perhaps benefiting from pavement runoff and soil disturbance. Aggressive mowing has shrunk its occurence. Radish does not appear to spread very far into the grassland or scrub.