It is an upright plant, growing to 70 centimetres (28 in) in width[2] and up to 1.2 metres (4 ft) tall in moist, fertile soil.

[10] In North Africa, it is found within Algeria, Egypt, Eritrea, Libya, Ethiopia, Morocco and Tunisia.

Within Asia, it is found in Afghanistan, Armenia, the Caucasus, China (in the provinces of Gansu, Jiangsu, Qinghai, Xinjiang and Xizang), Cyprus, India, Iran, Iraq, Israel–Palestine, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Syria and Turkey.

In middle Europe, it is found in Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia and Switzerland.

In southeastern Europe, within Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Italy, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia.

[11][12] The plant was brought here centuries ago by Catholic missionaries during the era of Spanish exploration and colonization, as a food crop, according to Matt Loftis, a manager of Mountain Forestry Department at TreePeople in Los Angeles, California.

[13] The plant was used as a condiment more than 2,000 years ago; it was mentioned by the Roman author Columella in the 1st century CE.

[5] In Ethiopia, where the plant is cultivated as a vegetable in Gondar, Harar and Shewa, the shoots and leaves are consumed cooked and the seeds used as a spice.

[citation needed] In the UK, the plant was used to make "hot mustard baths", which would aid people with colds.

In Eastern Canada, the use of mouche de moutarde to treat respiratory infections was popular before the advent of modern medicine.