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Svenska
Hoary Alison
Berteroa incana
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Alien species
Hoary Alison is a white‑flowered plant in the cabbage family that usually lives two years, sometimes longer. It grows 20–50 cm tall and looks gray because it is covered with fine hairs. You can often see it on dry, sandy, disturbed ground such as rail yards, roadsides and waste places across much of Eurasia, and it has also spread to North America.
Did you know?
- Each white petal is split in two, so the flowers often look like they have eight tips.
- It travels with people and goods and now grows far outside its original range.
About the species
Identification
Stiff, grayish, felt‑haired stems, 20–50 cm tall. Many narrow‑oval leaves with nearly smooth edges; the lowest form a small cluster at the base and have short stalks. Small white flowers with four petals, each petal deeply notched, giving a frilly or eight‑pointed look. The flower cluster lengthens as the seeds develop. Seed pods are small (about 0.6–0.8 cm), oval, plump and hairy, each with a tiny tip. The overall gray, fuzzy look helps tell it from other white mustards or sweet alyssum. Flowers in Finland in July–August.
Plant group
Herbaceous plants
Habitat
yards and roadsides
Flowering
Jul–Aug
About the habitat
Dry, open, often sandy places disturbed by people: railways, city wasteland, old yards and drill grounds, harbors, dumps, mills, and sometimes field edges. Patchy in Finland, most frequent in the south and southeast, with scattered records north to Lapland; especially in urban areas.
Sources
Photo: Svencapoeira, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hall kogelejarohi1.jpg
Text: Pinkka: Laaja maatalouslajintuntemus 4 op - Koppisiemeniset, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.38422
Text: Pinkka: IPS-177 Fennoscandian flora - Acer-Butomus, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.38422
Text: Wikipedia (Finnish), CC BY-SA 4.0 https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmio
