Black Mustard
Botanical Description & Habitat
Brassica or Sinopis nigra
Family
Cruciferae
Common Names
Brown mustard
Mustard
Habitat
North America, Asia, southern Europe, and Africa; it is widely cultivated and flourishes in fields and waste places.
Description
Mustard is an annual herb, with a branching, leafy stem reaching from 2-7 feet in height. The plant bears alternate leaves. The lower leaves are lyre-shaped, pinnatifid, and bristly; the upper leaves are smaller and glabrous, having no teeth or indentations. All the leaves are wide at the base, tapering to a point near the apex. Yellow flowers appear from June to August and grow in terminal racemes. The seeds grow in bulgy, cylindrical pods standing upright next to the stem; each pod contains 4-8 black seeds.
Medicinal Parts
Seed - dried, ripe
Historical Properties & Uses
Black mustard is chiefly used as a plaster for rheumatism, sciatica, neuralgia, muscular pains, congestion, respiratory infections, articular inflammations, and skin infections. This application takes advantage of the herb's rubefacient and irritant/counterirritant properties.
Taken internally, black mustard is a gastric juice stimulator, an appetizer, a digestive aid, and in very large doses, an emetic. It contains an oil with anti-cancer and antibacterial properties.
Method of Action
The oil of black mustard has some anti-cancer activity against Sarcoma 180, Ehrlich carcinoma and Leukemia SN 35.
This plant has exhibited some antitubercular activity.
Mustard oil has strong antibacterial and fungicidal properties.
Drug Interactions & Precautions
Black mustard possesses no known drug interactions.
Safety Factors & Toxicity
Black mustard is generally recognized as safe by the FDA. However, the herb is toxic if taken orally in large doses.
Ground or expressed mustard preparations contain high levels of isothiocyanates. These chemicals have correlated with endemic goiter.
It can be dangerous to leave mustard plasters in place too long, because this can cause severe irritation and inflammation.
Preparation & Administration
Apply externally only, watch for blistering
Seed oil
dilute 1:50 in alcohol
Powdered seed
dilute 1:50 with linseed (or similar) flower
Note: This Herbal Preparation information is a summary of data from books and articles by various authors. It is not intended to replace the advice or attention of health care professionals.
References
Abdullin, K.K. Bactericidal effect of essential oils. Uch Zap Kazansk Vet Inst., 84, 75-79, 1962.
Am Hospital Formulary Service. Am Soc of Hosp Pharm. Wash, D.C.
Blacow, N.W. Martindale: The Extra Pharmacopoeia. The Pharmaceutical Press: London, England, 1973
Bressler, R., M.D. Bogdonoff & G.J. Subak-Sharpe. 1981. The Physicians Drug Manual. Doubleday & Co, Inc. Garden City, NY. 1213 pp.
Claus, E.P., Tyler, V.E. & Brady, L.R. Pharmacognosy, 6Th Edition. Lea & Febiger, Philadelphia, 1970, 518 Pages. This entry replaces the one currently listed as Cla4 in the bibliography.
Culbreath, David M. R. A Manual of Materia Medica and Pharmocology. Eclectic Medical Publications, Portland, Or, l983.
Felter, H.W. and Lloyd, J.U. King's Am Dispensatory, 18th Ed. 1898, reprinted by Eclectic Medical Publications: Portland, Or, 1983
Fitzpatrick, F.K. Plant substances active against mycobacterium tuberculosis. Antibiotics And Chemotherapy, 4(5), 528-536, 1954.
Goodman, L.S. & A. Gilman. 1975. Pharm Basis of Thera. MacMillan, NY.
Hansten, P.D. 1979. Drug Interactions, 4th ed. Lea & Febiger, Phila.
Kastrup, E.K., ed. 1981. Drug Facts and Comparisons, 1982 edition. Facts and Comparisions Division, J.P. Lippincott Co, Phila(St. Louis).
Liener, I.E., Ed. Toxic Constituents Of Plant Foodstuffs, Academic Press, New York, 1969.
List, P. & L. Hoerhammer. 1969-1976. Hagers Hanbuch der Pharmazeutischen Praxis, vols. 2-5. Springer-Verlag, Berlin.
Martin, E.W. 1978. Drug Interactions Index, 1978/79. J.B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia.
Mowrey, Daniel B., Ph.D. Exper. Psych., Brigham Young University. Director of Nebo Institute of Herbal Sciences. Director of Behavior Change Agent Training Institute. Director of Research, Nova Corp.
Slavenas, I. Trudy L-Oi (Pervoi) Biokhim. Kon. Pribaltiisk. Resp. I Belorussii, Tartusk. Gos. Univ. Est. Ssr, Estonsk. Biokhim. Obshschestvo, Tartu, 258, 1960.
Wood, W.S. & Chi, H.J. Tumor inhibitory substances from higher plants. J Of The Pharmaceutical Society Of Korea, 17(2), 55-70, 1973.
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