

Mountain Tansymustard (subsp. incisa) Descurainia incana subsp. incisa subspecies
Mountain Tansymustard (subsp. incisa) is a biennial wildflower native to Canada and the lower 48 states. A host for pollen-specialist native bees.
More about this plant
Descurainia incana is a species of flowering plant in the mustard family known by the common name mountain tansymustard. It is native to much of North America, including most of Canada, the western United States, and Baja California. It is known from many types of habitat. It is a biennial herb with a slender, greenish, often hairy stem sometimes exceeding a meter tall. The leaves are narrowly to widely oval in shape, the lower ones lobed and sometimes compound, the upper generally unlobed. The mustardlike inflorescence is a series of developing fruits beneath an elongating cluster of small bright yellow flowers. The fruit is a thin, pointed silique up to 2 centimeters long. Wikipedia →
Growing & care
USDA PLANTS · TRY- Hardiness
- ≥ zone 6 derived from its U.S. range
- Lifespan
- Biennial
Wildlife & pollinators
How pollinator value is scored →❧ Caterpillar hosts ~3 caterpillar species
Descurainia supports ~3 caterpillar species.
Native butterfly & moth caterpillars are the base of the terrestrial food web — most songbirds rear their young almost entirely on them. As a host for native Lepidoptera this is a modest genus.
Recorded feeding on Descurainia in North America, including:
✦ Bees specialist-bee host
Specialist native bees depend on it.
Some native bees are pollen specialists (oligolectic) — they raise young only on pollen from particular plant genera. Descurainia is a recorded specialist-bee host, so losing it can mean losing the bee that relies on it.
Sources for this entry (13) Open & cited
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