mustard family

American  

noun

1. the plant family Cruciferae (or Brassicaceae), characterized by herbaceous plants having alternate leaves, acrid or pungent juice, clusters of four-petaled flowers, and fruit in the form of a two-parted capsule, and including broccoli, cabbage, candytuft, cauliflower, cress, mustard, radish, sweet alyssum, turnip, and wallflower.

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Example Sentences

The "distinctive flavor" of brassica vegetables, the cabbage and mustard family that broccoli also sits in, relates to a class of compounds called "glucosinolates," Stansell told Salon.

From Salon • Feb. 10, 2021

Brassica oleracea is a plant in the mustard family and is known as wild cabbage.

From Textbooks • Sep. 6, 2018

Alyssum is a member of the mustard family and native to Turkey and elsewhere along the Mediterranean coast.

From Washington Times • May 5, 2015

A member of the mustard family, it was rooted in human diets for millennia.

From Seattle Times • Nov. 5, 2014

Others, such as pulses and members of the mustard family, have toxic seeds, but the toxins are easily removed, leaving the seeds edible.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond