Berteroa incana belongs to the mustard family and carries all the adaptability that lineage implies. It germinates readily in sandy, alkaline, or infertile soils in full sun, producing first a basal rosette of soft gray-green leaves covered in dense, star-shaped hairs that give the plant its hoary appearance. As flowering begins, the basal leaves often wither away and the plant throws up hairy stems bearing clusters of small white flowers, each petal distinctively notched in two. It blooms from mid-spring through early fall and seeds prolifically throughout.

In pastures and rangeland it has earned a reputation as a genuine problem: it is toxic to horses, causing lower-leg swelling and lameness, and is listed as a noxious weed in several states for this reason. Control relies on persistence rather than chemistry, as no reliable herbicide exists. Hand-pulling before seed set and tilling to exhaust the seed bank are the principal tools. Its place in this catalog is as a reference, helping gardeners recognize and remove it rather than inadvertently nurture it.