Saharan
Mustard Genetics - Seed Sample locations
Craig Dremann, Box 361, Redwood City, CA 94064 (650) 325-7333
email
Please note: The USDA GRIN program has Brassica
tournefortii seed samples in their collection in Iowa, and our
California and Southwest desert infestations have a unique seed
color the year the seeds are harvested. Freshly harvested seeds
from our deserts are brick-red seeds, similar to a population
from India that is imported into the USA for use as edible mustard
seeds.
However, as the seed coats of the Southwestern
and California desert populations age as they are stored over
the years, they turn a darker brown colors, and then start to
look like some of the populations in the USDA Ames collection.
Samples from this collection are available
for $300 each.
I have seen the plants growing in Mecca, California,
the location of the original North American infestation, and have
seeds in the collection from those plants, and their growth habit
is very different than the other populations. If the Mecca population
had been growing there since the 1920s, it is a weak plant and
still confined to around the Mecca area.
I am suspecting that the current infestation
is an excape from a Brassica breeding program that uses Saharan
mustard to transfer Tournefortii genes to other oilseed Brassicas.
Other researchers have suggested planting Saharan mustard for
its seeds to be used for biodiesel.
So if this new more agressive invasive genotype
was an escape from either a breeding project or a biodiesel trial
somewhere in Southern California or Arizona, the most likely source
of stock seed could have been the USDA collection at Ames.
As of 2005, here are the suspects based on
seed color, from the USDA collection:
MOST LIKELY SUSPECT: Red-brown seeded genotype,
PI 296063 - from Spain, Madrid, seed color
most closely matches our infestation.
LIKELY SUSPECTS:
Brown seeded 15 genotypes from France, India,
Iowa, Israel, Morocco, Pakistan, and Spain.
LESS LIKELY SUSPECTS:
Five genotypes that are mixed 1/2 white seeded
form and 1/2 brown seeded forms from Pakistan. Another genotype
that is mixed 1/3 red seeded, 1/3 white seeded and 1/3 brown seeded
from Pakistan PI 426416, where the red-seeded may have been separated
out?
NOT A SUSPECT: All white seeded genotype from
Pakistan PI 426411.
California
Fresno
--No. 18 - I-5 PM 1.00 rest stop, near Kings County line - C.
Dremann - 5/05
Kern
--No. 1 - Hwy Cal. 14 - PM 26.7 mi. north of junction of new Cal.
58 - C. Dremann - 5/15/2005
--No. 2 - Hwy Cal. 14 at Jawbone Canyon BLM ORV area - C. Dremann
- 5/15/05
--No. 42 - Hwy Cal. 14 - PM 32.50 mi. near Freeman Junction- C.
Dremann - 5/15/2005
Imperial
--No. 9 - Cal. 78 PM 28.5, a few miles west of Algodones dunes
- C. Dremann - 5/05
--No. 10 - Cal. 98 PM 53 20 miles east of Calexico - C. Dremann
- 5/05
--No. 12 - County S-80, 5 miles east of Ocotillo, west of Plaster
City - C. Dremann - 5/05
--No. 46 - Junction Cal. 86 & County S-22 near Salton City
- C. Dremann - 5/05
Riverside
--No. 7 - US 95 PM 28 at 8 miles south of San Bernardino county
line - C. Dremann - 5/05
--No. 8 - US 95 junction I-10, Blythe - C. Dremann - 5/05
--No. 13 - Mecca, the original North American location from 1920s,
66th Avenue, 2 mi. east of town - C.D.- 5/05
--No. 14 - I-10 and junction of Cal. 177 "Desert Center"
- C. Dremann - 5/05
--No. 15 - Junction Cal. 62 and Cal. 177 original Mojave
desert infestation from 1997 survey - C.D. - 5/05
--No. 27 - Dillon Road outside the southwesternern edge of Joshua
Tree NP - JTNP - 5/3/05
--No. 44 - Coachella Valley - National Wildlife Refuge, Washington
Av. - C. Dremann -5/05
San Bernardino
--No. 3 - Junction Cal. 58 & Main St., Barstow - C. Dremann
- 5/05
--No. 4 - I-40, town of Ludlow - C. Dremann - 5/05
--No. 5 - I-40 at rest stop 5 miles east of Essex - C. Dremann
- 5/05
--No. 6 - I-40 in town of Needles, junction Needles Hwy (old US
66) and "O" street - C. Dremann 5/05
--No. 16 - US 95 PM 35.00, 24 miles north Vidal Junction - C.
Dremann - 5/05
--No. 17 US 95 north of I-40 PM 71.0 "Great Wall of
Mustard" 5-2005
--No. 29 - I-40, town of Ludlow - Marilyn Hanson - 6/29/2005
--No. 30 - Needles, junction US 95 and I-40 - Marilyn Hanson -
6/29/2005
San Mateo
--No. 43 Skyline Blvd. /Cal. Highway 35 PM 80 CD
5-2008
Arizona
Coconino County
--No. 28 - Lees Ferry area - Lori Makarick - 5/2005
La Paz County
--No. 33 - Quartzite at Bealls Outlet parking lot - Marilyn Hanson
- 6/29/2005
--No. 34 - Parker in downtown along Ariz. Hwy 95 - Marilyn Hanson
- 6/29/2005
Maricopa County
--No. 31 - Gila Bend and I-8, at America's Choice Inn - Marilyn
Hanson - 6/29/05
--No. 32 - Buckeye and I-10, roadside irrigation ditch - Marilyn
Hanson - 6/29/05
Mohave County
--No. 36 - Hwy 93, 18 miles south of I-40 - Alan McBee - 7/14/05
--No. 37 - US 95 2 miles NE Bullhead City - Alan McBee - 8/11/05
--No. 38 - I-40 between Needles and Kingman - Alan McBee - 8/15/05
--No. 39 - Hwy. 93, between Kingman and Las Vegas - Alan McBee
- 8/11/05
Pima County
--No. 23 - Ariz. Route 85 one miles south of Why - Sue Rutman
- 5/24/05
--No. 24 - Ariz. Route 86 near Three Points - Sue Rutman - 5/24/05
--No. 35 - Tucson Mountain Park - Marilyn Hanson - 7/11/05
Yuma County
--No. 11 - I-8 PM 67.6, Dateland cloverleaf - C. Dremann - 5/05
Nevada
Clark County
--No. 19 - Junction of I-15 and US 93 - John
Hiatt - 5/2005
--No. 20 - I-15 on Mormon Mesa, 3 mi north of Exit 100, Carp-Elgin
Rd - John Hiatt - 5/2005
--No. 21 - Las Vegas, Jct. Windmill Lane & Placid St., single
plant "A"- John Hiatt - 5/7/05
--No. 22 - Las Vegas, Jct. Windmill Lane & Placid St., single
plant "B"- John Hiatt - 5/7/05
--No. 25 - near Lake Mead NRA, Northshore Road PM 7.5 - Dr. Elizabeth
Powell - 5/5/05
--No. 40 - I-15 PM 80, Ute exit - C. Dremann - 8/31/05
--No. 41 Cottonwood Cove Road BLM lands 7 miles from US
95 Nicole Sikula 4-27-2005 Lat 3928396 Long 701222.
India
--No. 45 "Mustred [sic] Seeds (Red)" imported
for food use by Kumud Imports, Fremont, California, produced by
Shree Ranchhodray Masala Mill, Gujarat, India.
Note: No. 26 was removed from the collection because
it was mis-identified by the collector.
Part of the Desert Mustards page at https://www.ecoseeds.com/mustards.html
ANY QUESTIONS: call 9AM - 4 PM M-Sat. (650) 325-7333, or email
Updated December 24, 2022 - The Reveg
Edge Ecological Restoration service