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The word mustard is used to refer to several species of plants. These plants belong to the genera Brassica or Sinapis. They have tiny seeds. These seeds can be used as a condiment. When they are first ground, and then mixed with water, vinegar and other ingredients, a condiment called mustard can be made. The seeds can also be pressed, to give a kind of oil called mustard oil. Some kinds of mustard plants have edible leaves. These leaves are known as mustard greens.

Mild white mustard (Sinapis hirta) grows wild in North Africa, the Middle East and Mediterranean Europe and has spread farther by long cultivation; brown or Indian mustard (B. juncea), originally from the foothills of the Himalaya, is grown commercially in the UK, Canada and the US; black mustard (B. nigra) in Argentina, Chile, the US and some European countries.